Josh Butterscotch vs the world wide web
by liqouricewhip
Summary: Several months after the unplugging of his game Josh starts feeling a little home sick so when he finds out an online version of his game has been created he knows he has to go visit but with Josh things never really go as planned and neither does this "short visit" (the continued adventures of my OC) OC x vanellope (COMPLETE)
1. Journey to the internet

Okay I am sorry for all the punctuation and grammar mistakes. I promise I am working on it as best as I can. I'm kinda having to teach my self the basics right now. So I hope it doesn't bother you too much. Again I am very sorry. Now here is the story.-April 8

As I'm jumping through the trees I can feel somethings off it just doesn't feel right. I look around but I can't see the player. Jumping to the ground and start running through the level a thought comes up. (either the player is really fast or I'm really slow.) I jump over a log and fly into some ones fist. I hit the ground and look up. I see the person who hit me. I stand up and unsheathe my sword. "How the hell are you here? I killed you." I start swinging my sword at him. My sword flys straight through him. I spin around and hit the ground. Jumping back up I try and hit him again. With the same results. He laughs and disappears in a line of coding. "What the hell is going on?" I say to my self. I sheathe my sword and continue running through the level. Sliding under a downed tree I slide into a foot that kicks me in the face. I grab my nose, look up and there he is again. "Billy how the hell are you here? I know I killed you." He picks me up by the front of my collar and raises me up to eye level. "Josh!" He yells. I don't respond. He shakes me. "Josh!" He yells again shaking me. I shake my head. "Come one Josh!" He yells shaking me harder. "Josh wake up!" I look at him in disbelief and shake my head again. He raises his hand and slaps me.

I open my eyes and I'm back in sugar rush. Looking up I see Vanellope sitting on me holding me by the collar. "Josh why wouldn't you wake up?" She asks me. I sit up and she falls on her back. "Sorry sweet pea. Bad dream" I tell her. She sits up and looks at me. "What was it about?" She asks me. "I was back in my game. I was at one of the levels. The forest one. But there was no player, it was just me and Billy" I tell her. she pulls me in for a hug. "Ew your sweating a lot" she says pushing me away. I laugh and grab her arm and hug her again "you smell Josh!" she says trying to squirm out of the hug. I let go of her and jump off the bed "well we don't want to be stuck in bed all day let's go see Ralph after" I say walking into the bathroom "after what?" Vanellope asks "after I shower!" I tell her as I jump into the shower after the shower I'm getting dressed into my first sugar rush outfit the white t-shirt the caramel brown leather jacket my chocolate brown pants and licorice red sneakers I tie my shoes and exit the bathroom I see Vanellope standing in front of the mirror putting her hair into a ponytail I smile and lean on the door frame waiting for her to finish "you know instead of standing there watching you could help" she says turning around and looking at me.

I shake my head and walk over I help her put her hair up and I tie it together I finish and grab her shoulders "alright all done" I tell her as I shake her she grabs my hands and makes me stop "alright alright let's go see Ralph now!" she says running for the door I quickly follow and catch up to her outside the castle I jump over her and keep running "hey no fair" Vanellope says I turn my head to look at her and she glitches in front of me "and that is?" I ask jumping in front of her again she jumps on my back and I almost fall I grab her legs and steady my self I run through the tunnel and make my way through game central station.

I stop at the train to Fix it Felix jr and take Vanellope off my back and place her on the train I sit down next to her and the train is off "so what do you think Ralph is doing?" she asks me "probably sleeping" I say looking at her she gets a big smile on her face and I know what she's thinking "no you are not going to wake him up his games been getting played a lot lately he needs the rest" I tell her she crosses her arms and starts pouting I just smile and grab her hand "don't worry we can go harass Sarge and 643 if they're up there visiting Felix" I tell her.

The train pulls to a stop inside the game and we jump off and head for the apartment building I look up and see 643 leaning on the widow sill of an open window at Felix's apartment "oh yeah they're here" I tell Vanellope pointing up to 643 she smiles and starts running inside dragging me in with her she runs up to the elevator and pushes the button she starts jumping up and down "why is the elevator so slow?" she asks "well it's an old game" I tell her she giggles and the elevator doors open we step in and I push the button to the floor Felix's apartment is on the doors slide closed and the elevator starts going up.

The doors slide open and we step out we run up to the apartment and Knock on the door and walk in "hey guys!" Vanellope yells jumping onto the couch I walk up and sit down next to her "well howdy Josh and Vanellope" Felix says waving to us "sup pip squeaks" 643 says raising the glass in his hand "what are you two up to?" Calhoun asks us "oh well we just came for a visit" I tell her "well you came later than you usually do did you sleep in?" Calhoun asks I look up at the clock on the wall two thirty in the after noon "yeah Josh wouldn't wake up" Vanellope tells them.

Calhoun gives me a weird look "Josh not wake up? he's usually the first one awake" Calhoun says sitting down on the couch next to Vanellope "he had a bad dream" Vanellope tells them rubbing the back of my hand "well what was it about?" Felix asks jumping onto the couch and sitting next to me I sigh and place my head on the top of the couch "ok well I was in my game right but there was no player it was just me and Billy as I ran through the level and after a while of running and jumping I was woken up by Vanellope" I tell them. I look up and see Calhoun and Felix looking at each other "what is it?" I ask Calhoun look down at me "Josh billy is dead" Calhoun says I nod my head "I know that I killed him" I tell her "so you don't have to fear him" Felix says I look over at Felix and give him a funny look "I'm not afraid of him" I say shaking my head "oh that's great!" Felix says wiping his head with one of his gloves "I thought we were going to have to have an intervention or something" he says I look over at Calhoun she stands up and heads to the fridge.

I look over to 643 who's just looking out the window he sees me looking at him and he points out the window I jump up and run over I look out the window and see Ralph leaving his shack "hey Vanellope Ralph's awake!" I tell her she glitches over to us and looks out the window "gosh finally" she says jumping onto the window sill and sitting down on it "hey stink brain!" she yells down Ralph looks up and sees us and he waves and heads for the apartment building I head back to the couch and sit back down 643 walks up and sits down next to me.

"so how's it going?" he asks after he takes another drink from his glass "oh same old same old" I tell him as I cross my legs on the couch "do you ever miss it?" I ask him "miss what?" he asks looking at the bottom of his glass "our old game" I tell him he looks over to me and shakes his head "no not really I mean now I'm killing cybugs with guns" he says getting every last drop from his "speaking of cybugs where is Stephen?" he asks me.

"he's just flying around sugar rush" I tell him "oh didn't want to come for a visit?" he asks I cross my arms "no he's just been doing his own thing the last couple of days" I tell 643 "those damn teenage years" 643 says laughing I look up at him and smile "yeah they grow up so fast" I say uncrossing my arms "your telling me" he says slapping me on the back I fall of the couch and hit my nose on the coffee table and fall onto the ground I sit up right away and hold my nose "oh crap I'm sorry Josh" 643 says helping me up.

I let go of my nose and of course it's bleeding I clamp it closed again with my hand and Felix is running up next to me hammer drawn he taps my nose I let go of my nose and the bleeding has stopped I look down and my jacket has some blood on it I sigh "can your hammer clean too?" I ask he shakes his head "no sorry it only fixes" he says I take my jacket off and put it on the hat rack and shake my head Vanellope walks up next to me and looks at the jacket "don't worry Josh I can get bill to clean it" she tells me taking it off the hat rack.

She wraps it around her shoulders and she's about to say something when the door opens and Ralph walks in "hello every one" he says as he closes the door he looks and sees my blood covered jacket on Vanellope and he looks at me raising an eyebrow I shake my head "don't ask" I tell him he nods and look over to 643 and narrows his eyes 643 stands up and goes to the kitchen "I'm sorry I didn't mean to" he says pouring him self another drink "I mean I'm still getting used to my new body" he says walking back to the couch "new body you've had that body for four months now" Ralph says crossing his arms.

643 sits down and takes a drink he wipe his mouth and looks up at Ralph "and you've had that body for thirty years yet you still break stuff" 643 says putting his feet on the coffee table Ralph points a finger at him and opens his mouth he thinks for a moment and shakes his head and walks over to the kitchen "any ways what's today's plans?" Ralph asks every one I look over at Vanellope but she's trying to get my jacket to fit her I shake my head and look over to Ralph.

"I don't know we were just going to wander around the arcade" I tell him "me, Tammy and 643 were going to have a picnic on top of the roof again" Felix says hopping over to the kitchen "oh yeah about that" 643 says standing up "I have a date" he says "oh that's great with who?" Ralph asks him "that's a secret" 643 says sitting back down "come on you can tell us!" I say jumping onto the couch next to him he puts his hand on my face and pushes me on my back. He let's go of my face and I sit up again "oh wait its that chick from street fighter you've been hanging out with isn't it?" I ask him he pushes me onto my back again and I just lay there "I'm going to take that as a yes" I say "what chick from street fighter?" Ralph asks "the blue one" I tell him "Chun li?" he says I nod as I sit up "yeah I'm pretty sure that's her name" I say as I jump off the couch "thats great 643!" Ralph says patting him on the head 643 jumps up and pushes Ralph's finger away "I know that and now it's time I go and meet her" he says walking to the door "give her a nickname like sweet pea or something you can't use sweet pea though!" I yell as he walks down the hallway.

I close the door and run to the window I open it and wait for him to exit the apartment after a minute he does and as he walks out of the front door I yell "good luck!" at him he looks up and waves I look out side to the arcade and see Mr litwak walking around with a cord in his hand "hey guys Mr litwak is plugging something in!" I tell everyone they all walk over and look out the windows "what is it?" Vanellope asks I shrug "I don't know maybe a new game" I say Calhoun shakes her head "I don't think so he'd need the arcade cabinet as well" she says "I think we would get a better look from the roof" Felix says Vanellope jumps onto my back and I grab her legs and jump out the window.

Vanellope glitches us up to the roof and we land on top I turn around and watch as Mr litwak wanders the arcade with the wire "dang flab it where's a plug in when you need it" he says looking behind an arcade cabinet "ah hah!" he says reaching behind one of the games "hey Josh isn't that where your game was?" Vanellope asks me "yeah it is" I say litwak comes back from behind the games and walks over to a table and sits down he opens something up that's on top of the table and I look closer at what it is "what is that?" I ask Vanellope "I don't know looks fancy though" she says.

"it's called a laptop" I hear Calhoun say I look back and see her standing there "its for him to go onto the Internet do some paper work stuff like that" she says crossing her arms "well what's there to do on the Internet?" I ask "everything" she says walking up to the edge of the building next to me and Vanellope I look back to the laptop and see him open something up I squint my eyes trying to get a better look "so what is he doing right now?" I ask "I don't know by the looks of it he's looking for some new games for the arcade" she tells me.

I put down Vanellope and jump onto Calhoun's shoulders I see a bunch of pictures of arcade games on a page as litwak scrolls down "there a lot of games there" I say "and many of them have people like us in them" Calhoun says as litwak scrolls something pops up on his screen I look and see a picture of the bandit base from my game on it my jaw drops and I look down at Calhoun "hey Sarge what does mmo mean?" I ask her she looks up at me "massive multi-player on line" she says I jump off of her shoulders and run for the door "hey private where are you going?" she asks "if my game is on that laptop I'm going to visit it" I tell her running through the door.

When I enter the door I run straight into Ralph "hey kid what's the rush?" he asks me picking me up "my game is on that laptop so I'm going to it" I tell him "soldier your game in not on that laptop it's on the Internet" Calhoun tells me "well I'm going to the Internet than!" I tell them Ralph wraps his fingers around me "no kid you are not going to the Internet" Ralph tells me "what why not?" I ask "it's way too dangerous" he says walking into the apartment "what how is it dangerous?" I ask trying to get out of his grasp. He brings me back to Felix's apartment and puts me on the couch as soon as I'm out of his grasp I'm running for the door but I get picked up by Calhoun as I'm almost out "pip squeak you are not going to that laptop" she tells me putting me back on the couch "why not?" I ask "well one you could get lost on the Internet two there are a crap ton of people that are dangerous three litwak could unplug the laptop trapping you on the Internet" she tells me I shake my head "please I'll only be a couple of minutes I haven't been home in months" I try and plead with them.

Calhoun shakes her head "Felix deal with him" she says walking to the kitchen Felix walks up and sits next to me "Josh it's too risky for you to be exploring the Internet" he tells me putting a hand on my shoulder I jump up with an idea "oh your right Felix how foolish of me you know what I'm going to do I'm going to go home and think about what I tried to do" I say walking towards the door I'm almost out when Ralph grabs me "oh no nice try kid your staying here until that laptop is unplugged" he tells me I shake my head "and who's going to stop me" I say crossing my arms "well there's me and there's Calhoun" Ralph says I laugh "what's so funny?" he asks.

I look over at Calhoun who's rummaging around in the fridge and back to Ralph "oh nothing just trying to see how you guys could stop me" I tell him he's about to say something when I grab his hand and glitch down his arm gets yanked down with me and we go crashing through the floor I get out of his grip mid fall and jump away from him as he hits the floor I run to the window and am about to jump out when I get yanked back I look back and see Calhoun holding me by the collar I grab her arm and push off of it with me feet I get out of her grasp and glitch through the wall I look down and start falling I look back up and see Calhoun leaning over the edge watching me fall.

I glitch back into the building smashing through the wall and roll and hit the door I shake my head and look up I see Mary standing there with a pie in her hands "sorry Mary" I say standing up I go out the door and head for the stairs I enter the stair well and look up I see Calhoun and Ralph running down I run down the stairs as fast as I can and reach to bottom I'm out the front doors when I feel some one jump on my back I look and see Vanellope "your not going with out me" she says smiling I look to the exit and start running I jump over the train and head for game central station.

I enter game central station and look around for where the laptop is plugged in I see a plug in that wasn't there before I look up and see the word "laptop" above it I nod and run into the wire "are you sure about this? Vanellope asks me "yes yes I am" I tell her we enter the laptop and I see icons floating around every where I try to look outside the screen but there's something blocking it I sigh "so how are we going to find your game" Vanellope asks me "the Internet" I tell her as I look around for the Internet "so what does the Internet look like?" I ask her "I don't know I thought you did" she says I roll my eyes "I just found out what a laptop is" I say "private you get your molasses over here right now!" I hear Calhoun yell I turn and see her standing in the tunnel "how about you get over here!" I yell back jumping onto an icon it makes a clicking noise and opens up I'm about to jump off when me and Vanellope get dragged in.

We fly through a blue tunnel very quickly I look back at Vanellope who's holding onto my neck "are you ok?" I ask her she nods her head as she tightens her grip on my neck I look forward as we start slowing down I pull Vanellope in front of me and hold on to her "alright I have no idea what's going to happen sweet pea so just hold on alright" I tell her she nods and wraps her arms around me I watch as we fly towards a bright light I close my eyes as we go through and I land on my butt I open my eyes and see a paper clip with eyes standing in front of me and Vanellope he walks up to us and out stretches his floating hands "welcome to the internet!".


	2. Home sweet Home

I stand up with Vanellope in my arms "this is the Internet?" I ask the paper clip he nods his head well I guess he tilts it since hes all one body "yes where else would you be?" he asks "I don't know home maybe for starters" I say "well you could go home" he says "really how?" I ask "well that depends" he tells me "on what?" I ask "on where you live of course!" he says "so your saying we can go to sugar rush?" Vanellope asks "you can go any where as long as some one has put it on the internet!" the paper clip tells us I look down at Vanellope and put her on my back again "ok so where can we find path of a warrior?" I ask "well what do you want an emulator or the mmo?" I shake my head "I have no idea what you just said" I tell him "well an emulator is..." I cut him off "ok you know just bring me to the mmo please" "alrighty then follow me!" he says turning around.

We exit a door and enter what looks like a gigantic city I look around and see thousands of people walking around "holy sweet mother of monkey milk" I hear Vanellope whisper "what is this place?" I ask "well this my friend is the world wide web" he says entering the crowd I quickly follow him not wanting to lose him but it's difficult as we continue through the crowd I manage to catch up to him as he easily makes his way through the crowded streets "so what do you do here?" I ask "I help people on computers but lately less and less people have been needing my help so instead I focused on helping characters around the Internet ensuring they don't get lost or deleted" I smile "that's a good thing to do" I tell him.

"why thank you friend!" he says I look around to all the doors and openings around the city characters enter these and exit "so where do all of these go?" I ask the paper clip "every door goes to a different website" he tells me "so what are all these websites used for?" I ask "well a lot of websites are used for different things for example" he says gesturing towards a door "this website is used for stories" he tells me "what kind of stories?" "well for writing stories about video game characters much like your self's the people write the stories about anything they choose" I laugh and keep walking "who would want to write stories about us?" I ask as I catch up to him "oh you would be surprised" he says.

Were walking for a while until Vanellope speaks up "so where is this place your taking us?" she asks "oh there are different ways to locate the game but instead of looking for the door it's self we are going to use this" he says stopping in front of a large double door I read the name above it "Google" it says alright let's go the paper clip says stepping in so I follow were in a large white room with a small rectangle in the middle he walks up and taps it and a bunch of letters and numbers pop up in front of him I watch as he types in "path of the ninja mmo" he taps enter and a gigantic list pops up he floats up and taps the choice at the top a door appears out of thin air and the list disappears "alright away you go" he says pushing me and Vanellope towards the door he opens the door and me and Vanellope stand outside of it I take her off my back and take a deep breath and pull us in.

As I step in the door Vanellope disappears I look around and I'm in a pitch black room but I can see my self clearly "vanellope are you ok!" I yell with no response suddenly a line of coding appears and flies around in a circle around me I look as it slowly makes it's way around my body it reaches my feet and disappears a loud voice comes up "Class ninja, strength 8/10, intelligence 7/10, agility 10/10, before I get to say anything a flash of light blinds me I close my eyes and end up on my hands and knees I open my eyes and see I'm on the ground I look up and see I'm in a forest I stand up and look around this place it looks familiar I shake my head "no way it can't be" I say walking forward "Josh!" I hear Vanellope yell I look around but can't see her.

She yells again "Josh are you here!" "yeah I'm over here" I yell back suddenly she comes flying out of the bushes and rams into me and we fall to the ground I look over at her and she's laying there looking at me right away I notice shes not wearing her regular clothes her hood and skirt have been replaced by a black outfit similar to the one I had in my game except she has a robe on around it "I'm sorry I tripped on this stupid thing" she says sitting up and pulling at the robe "no problem" I say standing up she looks up at me at stretches out her hand I grab it and help her up.

"why don't you have a robe?" she asks I shrug and look down at my outfit it's the exact one I had before my game got unplugged except my normal sword got replaced by a katana I pull it out and look at it "do you have one?" I ask her she shakes her head "no got this stick" she says pulling a Bo staff off her back I smile "it's called a Bo staff" I tell her she smiles and hits me with it I fall down and hit the ground I look up and see a green bar appear out of thin air I look closer and a number above the box goes from 1000 to 999 I stand up and the box disappears I shake my head. "did you see that?" I ask her "well it would be hard not to" she says walking up to where the bar was she looks at me "what was that?" she asks me "well by the looks of it it's probably a health bar" I tell her "what is it used for?" "well almost all of the enemies in my game had one once it fills up with red they're dead" I tell her "so red means your dead?" she says I nod my head "well is one thousand a lot of health or little?" she asks "it's a lot I mean a lot the bandit boss only had two hundred and fifty" I tell her.

"holy cow pie how come you have so much?" she asks I shake my head "I have no idea" I tell her I look down the pathway when I hear a twig snap I see an ogre and shake my head "I hate these guys" I tell Vanellope she looks and sees the ogre "what is it?" "it's an ogre" I tell her I pull out my new katana and spin it around in my hand I look over at Vanellope and she's holding the Bo staff in front of her I put my hand on the Bo staff and lower it "leave this to me sweet pea" I look back to the ogre and raise my sword. I run up at it and as it swings its fists at me I jump up and land on it's arms I spin around and cut it's head off and it's over "ok so that was easier than expected" I say jumping off the body it's body shines and some orbs fly off into it and towards Vanellope the orbs float around her and go into her "what was that?" she asks "I have no idea" I tell her "well let's not wait here for another ogre to show up" I say grabbing her hand and walking down the path.

After a couple minutes of walking I begin to get an idea of where we are "ok so I remember I fell out of that tree so my tree house has to be around here some where" I tell Vanellope "this place looks awesome" she says "it may not be as sweet as your game but I like it" I say smiling "so where is your tree house?" she ask I look at where a trail use to be a trail that led to my house there's a bunch of vines and dirt covering a large stone door I walk up to it and place my hand on it the door starts shining and opens up Vanellope pulls her self close to me and I walk in as soon as were inside the door shuts behind us I look up at where my tree house should be but instead see a large temple with stairs leading to the top I look closer and see some one standing up at the top "wait here" I tell Vanellope she nods and I walk up the stairs I get to the top and stand in front of the person they're wearing a mask over their face and are wearing the same clothes I am except they have my old sword I shake my head "no way" I say as I walk up to them they obviously see me but they're not saying anything I walk up and poke them in the face.

They jump back and pull out their sword and point it at me "ahh finally no one has challenged me in a while" he says spinning his sword I pull out my katana and point it at him I run up and swing he dodges and swings at me I duck and spin on the ground tripping him "woah you have some moves I've never seen before" he says standing up he swings at me and I dodge he keeps swinging and I keep dodging I get fed up and glitch at him I get him in the torso and send him flying against the wall of the temple he stands up and I see his health bar go from 1000 to 809 I smile "you know I thought the me of this game would be more of a challenge" I say walking up to him he looks up at me "what do you mean?" he says I extend my hand out to him and he grabs it and I help him up.

"I'm you except I'm from the arcade version of your game" I tell him he pulls down his mask and of course there's me he looks down the stairs and so do I we see Vanellope running up the stairs "is she with you?" he whispers to me I nod "you know shes kinda cute" he says I slap him in the back of the head he looks at me and throws his hands up "what?" he ask I show him the ring on my finger "oh I see well congrats" he says patting me on the back "thanks" I say. She reaches the top of the stairs and stands next to me "what happened?" "oh me and me got into a fight" I say to her she looks at mmo me and smiles "hello I'm Vanellope" she says grabbing his hand and shaking it "hello I'm the ninja master" he says "the ninja master is that really your name?" she asks he nods "yeah not many people get to me so the programmers never really bothered giving me a good name" he says I grab his shoulder "I know that feel bro" I say "well are you guys hungry I got some..." "fruit and venison?" I say cutting him off he laughs and heads for the front of the temple I hear him sigh and look at the ground "yeah exactly" he says opening the door.

Were sitting around a big fancy table eating some apples and venison "oh my I forgot how much I loved this stuff" I say to mmo me "yeah I never had anything else though" he says frowning "you know if you ever get the chance have some candy" I tell him he nods as he cuts his meat "so what brings you to the game?" he asks me "oh I was you know just wandering around the Internet and.." "he was home sick" Vanellope says cutting me off "well your welcomed to stay here as long as you'd like" he tells us "thank you Josh I mean ninja guy Josh but we have to get home" Vanellope tells him.

"well good luck finding the way out I haven't been able to find it" he tells us "why do you want to leave?" I ask him "oh I don't" he says swallowing a piece of apple "so why were you looking for the exit?" "I wasn't that's why I haven't been able to find it I haven't been looking" he tells us I shake my head and chuckle "Josh this isn't funny we have to get home" Vanellope says punching me in the shoulder "alright alright we will don't worry sweet pea" I say we finish our food and mmo me shows us where we can sleep "alright so we sleep than tomorrow we will find our way home" I say to Vanellope as I lay down she jumps in next to me and we fall asleep.

I'm in the forest again flipping and jumping through the trees chasing down a deer the first one I've seen in months "come on I'm starving" I say to my self I'm catching up quickly I pull out my sword and jump onto it's back it staggers to the side I raise my sword but before I get to kill it a branch comes out of no where and hits me in the face I fall off the deer and hit the ground I look up and see the deer running off into the forest I jump up onto my feet and chase the deer again I jump back into the trees and head in the direction the deer ran I cant locate it so I find a large tree and jump to the top hoping to find another deer but as I land on the top branch it flashes and disappears I fall down and land on the ground I groan and close my eyes.

When I open them again I'm back in the temple laying down in the bed I sigh and look over to Vanellope who's still asleep I really want to go exploring around the world but I just can't leave her here I wiggle my arm loose and sit up I wonder where mmo me is I think for a moment I really should get a nickname for him or something then again I have no idea how long I'm going to know him it could be forever or I could never see him again I shake my head I step off the bed and stand up I grab my left arm with my right hand and pull it over to the right stretching it I do the same with my other arm and I exit the room. I walk around the temple looking for other me but can't locate him but it doesn't really matter I'm enjoying looking around the temple it's much nicer than my old tree house "that lucky s.o.b" I say to my self as I turn another corner "god damn this place is big" I say opening a door I look inside and see a bunch of swords and Bo staffs and nun chucks lining the walls I shake my head "he even has his own god damn training room" I say stepping inside the room I smile as I take a sword off the wall that looks exactly like my old one.

I walk over to the training dummy and I start slashing at it with the sword I stab through it and pull the sword back out "yeah it's a good sword" I turn around and see me standing there leaning on the doorframe "yeah I have the same one at home" I tell him he walks up to the wall and takes down a Bo staff "you know Vanellope might like this one better than her current low level one" he tells me I raise an eyebrow "low level one?" "yeah I mean she's only level one so she starts with a low level weapon but I can get you guys some top notch gear" he says throwing me the staff. I catch it and spin it around "I don't know I don't really want her fighting" I tell him "oh ok I see alright so she's going to want some armor than something that can keep you and her alive" he says walking to a door "I mean I don't even know how long were going to be here Vanellope wants to go home" I tell him "who knows how long it could take you to find the exit you're going to need gear to keep you alive" he says opening the door I walk up next to him and look into the room and my jaw drops.

"how did you get all of this?" I ask him as I step into the room "oh well I'm the ninja master the you know final boss of this game" he tells me I turn and look at him "so they made me into the final boss of the game that's awesome!" I say he smiles and walks into the room "yeah it is isn't it so take your pick" he says gesturing to all of the walls "you know Vanellope will want to choose her own armor" I tell him "well let's go get her than" he says walking out of the room I follow we walk through the halls looking for Vanellope because she wasn't in the room. "hey sweet pea where are you!" I yell with no response a blue flash comes out of no where and Vanellopes standing in front of us "there you guys are I've been looking all over" she says I look back and see the other me hiding behind my back I shake my head and laugh "oh don't worry buddy I got the crap scared outta me the first time too" I say patting him on the back he pushes my hand away and steps back "I was not scared" he says pulling his mask up and turning around "where's he going?" Vanellope asks "he's going to get our upgrades" I tell her following him.

Were back in the equipment room looking around for what we want "you know I like these clothes but I don't like the robe" Vanellope says pulling the robe off "well I wore these clothes for ten years so I'm glad to get rid of them" I say pulling some armor off the wall I slip the silver chest plate over my head and put my arms through the holes "oh yeah I like this" I say tapping the armor I grab some leather gloves off of the wall and feel them "cow hide" I hear other me say "not very strong but keeps your hands warm at night and around here your going to need them" he says. I look back at Vanellope and shes decided to keep the ninja outfit I laugh as she tries spinning the Bo staff around she ends up dropping it she frowns and picks it up I walk over to her and take the staff "hey what's the big idea Josh!" I walk back to the wall and grab a small dagger I take it over to Vanellope and I hand it to her "here just use this" I tell her putting the staff in a holster on my back I look around for another weapon I could use I spot a bow near the top of the room I jump up and grab it "this will do" I say tugging the string I look around for a quiver and arrows I hear someone whistle and I turn around to see other me standing there with the quiver and arrows he passes them to me and I catch it.

I put it on my back and it fuses with the armor "wow this armor can hold everything" I say as I throw the string of the bow over my head "yeah I'm gonna hate to part with it but I don't really need it" other me says as he pulls a sword holster off the wall he passes it to me and I put it around my waste I look up and he's handing me a sword I look at it and smile "my old sword" I say putting it in my holster "well technically my old sword you just happened to have the exact same one" he says putting his hand on my shoulder I put my hand on his shoulder as well "thanks" I say grabbing his hand with my free one and shaking it. We exit the equipment room and head for the front of the temple before me and Vanellope head down the stairs mmo me stops me "almost forgot you're going to need these" he says handing me a satchel I open it up and see a bunch of potions and books in it I hand it to Vanellope she puts it on and closes it "again thank you" I say hugging him "no problem us masters we have to stick together" he says pulling away "alright Josh we have to go we don't have much time" Vanellope says pulling me down the stairs she turns around and waves at other me "thank you ninja Josh!" she says.

Were walking out of the stone door and it closes behind us I look around and see a ogre running at us in the distance I sigh and take out my bow I load it with an arrow and pull back the string I'm about to shoot the arrow when Vanellope stops me "what is it?" I ask she points to the ogre and I look closer "what no way is that..." Vanellope runs up to the supposed ogre and jumps onto him I shake my head and walk up to them "how did you get here?" I hear Vanellope ask "oh a paper clip led us here" I hear Ralph say I run over to them and see that it really is Ralph as the ogre. Ralph spots me running up and he puts Vanellope down and walks over to me "kid we are going back right now" he says pointing a finger at me I cross my arms "ok lead the way then" I say tapping my foot he looks around and back down to me "ok were going back as soon as we find the exit" he says picking me up "ok so a moment ago you said us so who is us?" I ask he opens his mouth to say something when I hear yelling "wreck-it did you find them!" I hear Calhoun yell I roll my eyes and look over his shoulder and see Calhoun at least I think it's her.

As she nears I can tell shes changed she no longer wears her armor now she has a brown tunic and a sword at her side I can see some chain armor under her shirt and she's wearing a pointy hat I look back at Ralph a I can see that he's wearing some old tattered brown clothes that look like a potato sack "so what does Felix look like?" I ask Ralph "he looks like Felix except he has a purple robe and a golden wand instead of hammer" Ralph tells me "so where is he?" I ask "well he was with Calhoun" he says turning around "hey where's Felix?" he asks Calhoun. She turns her back towards us an I see Felix hanging onto her breathing heavily "what happened to him?" I ask "we ran into an ogre" she says walking towards us again "how much health did he lose?" I ask she shakes her head "none he got tired from running away" she says I bite my lip holding back a laugh "alright we found them let's go home now please" Felix says letting out a breath "ok let's find the exit" Calhoun says heading down the path I shake my head and Ralph puts me on his shoulder and Vanellope jumps up onto his other shoulder and were off.

As were walking through the forest I see something in the corner of my eye I look over and watch as 6 guys in shiny armor step out in front of us stopping us "alright noobs give us all your gold weapons and armor" one says taking out his sword I shake my head and start laughing they look at me and the rest of them take out their weapons and point them at us I fall off of Ralph's shoulder laughing harder I start hitting the ground with my fist I stop laughing for a second and look up at them "we are not joking" the one in gold armor says putting the sword in front of my face I sit up "oh you guys are serious" I say wiping some tears from my eyes "alright lets do this" I say cracking my knuckles and walking towards them.

I kneel down next to Vanellope as she sits there "so what does this guy have?" I ask her as she searches his body "just a bunch of coins a cool looking sword and some potions" she says standing up and putting the coins and potions in her satchel I pick up the sword and pass it to Calhoun "this ones probably better than your current one" I tell her she takes out her sword and throws it next to one of the bodies and puts the new one in her holster "ok we don't have time to keep doing this we only have a week" Calhoun says "a week for what?" I ask "litwak closed the arcade and went on vacation for a week he left his laptop plugged in so we have to get back before he does" she says as she starts walking down the path. A couple of minutes of walking down the path and I see smoke not to far away Vanellope looks up and sees it too she points up at it "is there a fire or something?" she asks I shake my head as we walk up a hill "no no I remember there should be a village over this hill" I say running up the hill I near the top of the hill when I'm stopped by Ralph "kid we don't know if this village is friendly" he says lifting me up "Ralph don't worry even if they aren't friendly I'm pretty sure we can take them" I tell Ralph getting out of his pinch I jump up the hill and get to the top my jaw drops at the sight I shake my head and look back at the others "guys you have to see this".


	3. Old Friends

I look down at the once empty village well at least in my game it was empty only the occasional bandit but other than that no one but as I scan the village there has to be one hundred minimum all of them wandering the village some in bulking armor covered in weapons others in nothing but regular peasant style clothing with either no weapons or small ones like a dagger or short sword "ok so this place looks interesting" Ralph says stepping up next to me "well me and Ralph will go kill them all Calhoun you and Felix stay here and protect Vanellope" after I finish saying that I start down the hill but Ralph picks me up and wraps his fingers around me "kid you can't just go around killing everybody" "well why not?" "well for starters what if people don't respawn in this game" he says.

I look down to the village and back to Ralph "fine what do you want to do then?" I ask "we just blend in and don't attract attention we find an npc that knows where the exit is and we get out of here" "well you know me Vanellope, Calhoun and felix will be able to blend in but I don't know about you Ralph" "look we just don't want to get into fights blending in doesn't really matter" Ralph says putting me down "you guys don't know my game that well" I say shaking my head and walking down the hill towards the village.

I push my way through the players looking for an npc that can help us but so far nothing I look back and see Ralph above the heads of the crowd with Vanellope on his shoulder I see the tip of a brown hat I'm assuming is Calhoun I'm about to turn around when Felix pushes through and falls down next to me I shake my head and grab the back of his robe and pull him up "Felix at least act like you know what your doing" I tell him he brushes him self off and straightens out his hat "I'm sorry Josh I have no idea what I'm doing and this robe is really long and annoying" he says pulling it up I turn and keep walking through the crowd and towards the center of town.

"now if I remember correctly there should be a pub around here" I say looking around the corner I sigh it's tough to see with all these players walking around "can't we just kill a few to scare them away?" I ask Felix who's still walking next to me he shakes his head "no Josh no killing" he says crossing his arms "what if it's self defense?" I ask he strokes his chin "well who would attack us?" he asks "anybody that wants something we have" I tell him putting a hand on the hilt of my sword I look back where the others were following but I can't see them I step away from the corner and start jumping looking over the heads of everyone but I still can't see them "Felix where'd the others go?" "what do you mean they were here a second ago" he says looking around "well they're not here any more" I say walking back the way we came.

I try another direction looking for Vanellope, Calhoun and Ralph but I can't find them "great job Felix you lost them" I say jumping up and down again "what but no I" he begins stammering "I mean come on Felix how could you lose someone as big as Ralph" I say bugging him "oh fiddle sticks I'm sorry Josh I got distracted" I chuckle and shake my head "aw Felix I can't stay mad at you" I say punching his shoulder "you know Felix let's just head to the pub we'll find an npc to help us find the exit and then we can find the others" Felix nods his head and we head back in the direction of the pub.

After a little bit of walking we find the pub and are standing on the outside of it "so are you sure some one here can help?" Felix asks me I shake my head "I have no idea" I say entering the pub the pub is crowded standing room only I shove my way past some players and make my way to the bar I jump onto the bar and see the bartender "alright Felix I think I found an npc" I say turning my head but when I do I can't see Felix any where "oh give me a break" I say jumping back into the crowd "Felix are you in here?" I yell I look towards the back of the room and see some guys gathered in a circle I walk over to see if they're picking on Felix.

And of course I'm right as I jump onto a table I look over one of their shoulder and there's Felix getting pushed around by them I shake my head and take out my sword "hey a-holes" I say poking one of them in the back with my sword the one I poked turns around and looks at me he pulls out his sword and swings at me I take a step back and dodge it quite easily I thrust my sword forward and into his throat he starts bleeding and falls down I look up and see his friends are getting ready to attack me I spin my sword around and pull out my Bo staff as well one of them runs at me with his dagger I jump off the table as I'm above him I hit the back of his head with my staff and he falls through the table and breaks it as I'm landing I stab my sword into his back and he's dead I'm about to pull out my sword out when I get kicked I fly back into another player at least I thought it was another player.

When I look up I see Ralph standing there he helps me up and throws me at the guy that kicked me I spin around and grab my sword as I'm flying towards him I pull it out and above me I spin it down wards towards the guy and impale it in his head I pull it out as he falls and get ready for the next attack but it doesn't come I look around at the players and they're backing away I smile and put my sword away "so no one else wants to get their butts kicked?" I say walking towards the bar I stop and turn around "Felix search their bodies for potions gold and weapons" I tell him he nods and I head for the bar.

I sit down at the bar next to the bartender "hey are you an npc?" I whisper he nods while he's cleaning a cup "look mister I'm not apart of this game I'm..." he cuts me off by holding his hand up to my face and he nods to a door I stand up and walk over to it I open it and walk in it looks like supply room it has a broom in it some buckets and a sponge I turn around and the bartender walks in and closes the door behind him "look kid I know your not apart of this game no player can pull moves like that" he says leaning on the wall "alright that saves us some time so do you know where an exit is?" I ask him.

He rubs the back of his head "well no I don't but I think I know some one who might there's this king and he has a son who's not really part of this game so he just comes and goes as he pleases king..." "wait your not talking about king Abbas are you?" I ask he nods "the very same how do you know him?" "well I'm from the arcade version of this game" I tell him "oh ok well you know where your going then?" "yeah I do thanks man" I say walking past him and I open the door and I'm about to step out when he stops me "kid you might want this" he pulls a roll of paper out of a box on a shelf and hands it to me I grab it and open it I smile "thanks" I say walking out of the room.

I look and see Ralph and the others sitting around a table I walk over and put the map on top of the table "what's this?" Calhoun asks I unroll the map and they all look at it "ok so where are we going?" Vanellope asks I point to a castle on the map "what is that place?" Ralph asks "that is the castle of king Abbas" I say looking over the map "so where are we?" "well we are all the way over here" I say pointing to the other side of the map where the village is "what so how are we supposed to get to the castle?" Felix asks "well we are going to have to walk" I say looking for a good pathway to the castle.

I think about going straight through but we would wander too close to the bandit base I sit down on a chair as I look over the map we've been sitting there for at least half an hour in silence until Calhoun speaks up "squirt what are you doing?" she asks I lean back in my chair and rub my eyes "I'm trying to find the safest path for us to take" I tell her she grabs the map and turns it towards her "well what about this path" she says pointing towards a path that would take us through the bandits forest I shake my head "too many bandits" I say putting my elbows on the table.

She looks over the map again and points to another pathway "what about this one?" I look at what shes pointing at and frown "oh sure if you want to deal with grizzly bears and ogres and the occasional troll" I say hitting my head on the table "come on Josh we can find a way" I hear Vanellope say I lift my head and smile "ok your right we can do this" I say turning the map towards me "ok so I found a path it looks like the safest" I say looking at them "well what path is it?" Ralph asks "well first what are your guys thoughts on water?" I ask they all look around at each other and back at me "why?" Calhoun asks I point to a river stretching across the entire map "a river what are we going to swim?" Ralph asks.

I shake my head "no I had a friend who took me down the river on his boat" I tell them "so your friend can take us down the river?" Felix asks I nod "if he's been put into the game but the problem is he's not my friend this isn't my game remember" I say wiping my hair back with my hand "well we have to try" Vanellope says I nod in agreement "alright it's settled let's go find this guy" Calhoun says standing up we exit the pub and look around "so where do we look?" Vanellope asks "well I'm my game he was always in his river side house" I say walking in the direction of the river.

As we get to the river the sun has gone down and we start walking on the edge of the river I spot a deer drinking some water I don't know if I was hungry or if it was just muscle memory but I pull out my sword and run at the deer it looks up and sees me and turns around and starts running into the forest I jump into the trees and start chasing it down I grab a branch and spin around and let go I push off of the branch with my feet and fly at the deer I land on it's back and raise my sword and cut it's head off it falls down and I jump off and land on my feet I kneel down next to it I smile and rub its fur "I forgot how fun that was" I say to my self I'm about to start skinning it when I feel a hand on my shoulder I look and see Calhoun standing there.

"what was that all about?" she asks I look down at the deer and shrug "muscle memory" I say standing up "well snap out of it we have to find your friend" she says walking towards the river I look down at the deer and shake my head "next time" I say following Calhoun "oh great you found him" Felix says standing up and brushing him self off "ok so let's find this guy now" Ralph says walking down the river after a couple minutes of walking we stop and look at the map "so where was your friend living?" Calhoun asks I point to a little square not too far from where we are "he lived there" I say as I start walking again.

I'm looking around making sure there are no enemies or players any where when Vanellope jumps on my back "Josh you have to carry me I don't want to walk anymore" she says wrapping her arms around my neck "alright just don't choke me" I say grabbing her legs finally I spot a little shack in the distance and I start running to it I get to the door and let go of one of Vanellopes legs and knock on the door "hey Reginald are you home!" I yell the door opens and theres Reginald "what do you want" he says rubbing his eyes "Reginald I need you to take us down river" I say putting Vanellope down he looks over my shoulder and sees Ralph and the others walking up.

"alright let's go" he says stepping out of his house and closing the door I look at him in disbelief "wow that was easier than expected" I say turning around "what can I say sailing.." "this river is your life" I say cutting him off he smiles "how did you know I was going go say that?" he asks "you well not you but my games you use to say that a lot" I say walking towards the dock "so your not from here than?" "yeah I am well not here but I'm from the arcade version of this game" I say jumping onto the boat "are you sure this boat can hold me?" Ralph asks stopping at the edge of the dock "yes it can my friend this boat here shes the finest boat to sail these waters" Reginald says rubbing the side of the boat with his hand "well she is the only boat to sail these waters" I say leaning on the edge of the boat I look back and see Ralph slowly making his way onto the boat he steps on and the boat tilts but manages not to flip I shake my head and sit down I lean my head back onto the railing of the boat and close my eyes.

Im on the boat with Reginald and were speeding down the rapids trying to catch some fish while being thrown around the boat we hit a rock and I get sent flying I'm about to fall off the boat when Reginald catches me by the leg I look and see he's caught me with the fishing hook I smile as he reels me back onto the boat as I get into arms length he grabs my leg and pulls me up quickly, we fall onto the floor and I jump up I look and see him laying there laughing I walk over and help him up "oh I should have just thrown you back" he says picking up his fishing pole I shake my head and lean on the railing I look down river and see a new bridge that wasn't there before I squint my eyes and see a couple bandits standing on it holding bows and arrows "oh crap get down" I yell jumping into the river I look up and see Reginald jumping in following me.

He's almost reached me when he gets shot by an arrow it hits him in the shoulder and he screams I swim back and grab his arm I look over to the bridge and see that the bandits have left I swim over to the shore with Reginald in tow I make it and throw him onto the shore and drag my self up I take my mask off and pull out the arrow and wrap my mask around the wound I lay down and catch my breath "thank you friend" I hear Reginald say I look over and see him laying there I pat him on his uninjured shoulder "any time buddy" I say closing my eyes.

I wake up and it's day time I look try to stand but I'm stuck I look down and see that Vanellope has used my legs as a pillow I roll my eyes and put my head back onto the railing "we tried telling her not to sleep there but she wouldn't listen" I hear Ralph say I look to my right and see him sitting on the edge of the boat "no worries Ralph" I say looking down the river "so how long was I asleep?" I ask "you slept all night" he says laying down I look to the front of the boat and see Reginald sitting there with a spy glass looking dow the river he look back and sees I have woken up he tip toes over and kneels down next to me "we will be there in a couple minutes" he says with a smile.

So there is chapter 3 I don't know why but I enjoy writing Josh's flash backs so stay tuned for chapter 4 


	4. We're off to see the wizard

I smile and look down the river again "ok awesome" I say lifting Vanellopes head off of my legs I wiggle away from the bottom of her head and place her head on the deck I stand up and stretch my legs "so what's the plan?" Ralph asks sitting up I walk to the front of the boat and cross my arms "I have no idea I didn't think we would make it this far" I say with a sigh "what do you mean you didn't think we would make it this far" Ralph says standing up and walking over to me.

"I mean I thought something would go wrong" I tell him placing my hands on the railing

"so do you have any sort of plan at all?" he asks pushing my shoulder so I would face him I shake my head "no but you'll think of something Ralph" I say turning to look down river again "what are you two stink brains arguing about?" I hear Vanellope ask I turn around and see her rubbing her eyes "Ralph didn't have a plan for when we got to the castle" I tell her as I walk over.

"gosh Ralph why not?" she asks looking up at him he shakes his head "I was not the one that said we should go to the castle" he says crossing his arms I smile and sit down next to Vanellope "come on Ralph you still could have thought of something" I say leaning backwards onto my elbows "will all of you please shut up" I hear Calhoun yell from the back of the boat I look back and see Calhoun sitting up.

I shake my head "sorry Sarge" I yell at her She stands up and I see Felix laying down behind her He turns around and lays on his side By the looks of it he barely had any sleep I stand up and walk over to him as he sits up and rubs his eyes "hey Felix what's troubling you buddy?" I ask "oh just worried about getting home" he says standing up "don't worry Felix I'll get you guys home" I say patting him on the back He gives me a curious look "Josh don't you mean get us home?" he asks I blink a couple times quickly "yeah of course..." I say walking back to the front of the ship I sigh "us" I say to my self.

I get to the front of the ship and fold my arms on the rails I see the castle appear from behind a cluster of trees a smile spreads across my face "hey guys were here" I say turning towards all of them Vanellope jumps up and runs up next to me while Ralph walks up behind her I look around them and see Calhoun walking up as well but Felix remains standing at the back of the boat I wave at him to get his attention he looks up and sees me waving.

"come on Felix were docking" I yell he nods and begins running up half way up to us Felix trips on his robe and hits the deck face first I begin laughing but Calhoun slaps me in the back of the head "ow ok ok ill help him up" I say rubbing the back of my head and walking to Felix by the time I reach him he's propping him self up with one of his elbows and shaking his head he looks up at me and I extend my hand out to him he grabs it and I pull him up "we should really look into getting you a shorter dress" I say turning around back to the front of the boat "it is not a dress it is a robe" Felix says pulling the bottom of the robe up off the ground I smile and look at him "sure you keep telling your self that buddy" I say patting him on the shoulder I turn around and head to the front of the boat we pull into the dock at the base of the castle I look and see some knights stepping out of a door at the end of the dock.

"what business do you have with the king?" one of them asks "who said we were here to see the king" I say stepping onto the dock they look at each other and back at me "well who are you here to see?" the same knight asks "we are here to see the prince" I say crossing my arms "what business do you have with the prince?" one of the knights ask "I am also a prince I need some advice" I tell them they look at each other and turn around they huddle together and begin whispering they finish and turn back to me "alright follow us" they say walking back towards the door I look back at the others who are still standing on the boat and wave them over.

We enter the castle and are following the knights through the halls they take us to the throne room and seat us around a round table at the side of the room "wait here the prince will be out momentarily" a knight tells us as he opens the door and steps out of the room I lean back in the chair and put my hands on the back of my head "so what do you think this prince guy is like?" Vanellope asks I look over at her and place my elbows on the table "he's alright I guess we never really fought or any thing but we weren't exactly friends either" I tell her "wait you knew him in your game?" Ralph asks I nod my head "if they weren't an enemy chances are I was friends with them" I say twiddling my thumbs.

I look around the room and see that there are some people cleaning and putting up some decorations "what do you think is happening?" Felix asks looking at the same people I am "I don't know birthday maybe or maybe an anniversary for something" I say with a shrug I look at one person who is sweeping the floor "hey hey buddy you guy person sweeping person" I say snapping my fingers they look up at me and walk over "how can I help you sire?" he asks "whats with all the decorations?" I ask pointing to the people decorating he looks over at them and back at me "oh well it is the kings birthday so we are going to celebrate" he says as he goes back to sweeping the floor "a birthday party?" I say leaning back in my chair I look at Ralph "Ralph how can we have a birthday if we were never really born?" I ask "I don't know" he says shrugging.

I look over at Vanellope and her face is all scrunched up like she's thinking about something I'm about to ask her what's wrong but she speaks up "Josh when we get back can we have a birthday party?" she asks "well sure whens your birthday?" I ask her she shakes her head "no not for me for you!" she says standing up on her chair I look at her in disbelief "for me why me?" i ask her "well why not have you ever had a birthday party before?" I shake my head "no I don't even know when my birthday is I wasn't programmed with that memory" I say crossing my arms.

"since when has programming ever stopped you before?" she ask sitting back down I shrug "well when are we going to have it then?" I ask I'm not really sure if i was actually ever born I mean I was created but birth I dont know if I was given one "we can just throw a party when we get back it will be fun!" Vanellope says jumping in the air I chuckle and shake my head "sure sweet pea you believe that" I say looking at the door waiting for the prince to walk out of it and he does after a couple minutes he spots us at the table and walks over "greeting I am prince Sonjay" he says shaking my hand "its a pleasure Sonjay I am prince Butterscotch" I say letting go of his hand "Butterscotch? That is a very interesting name where do you hail from?" "I hail from a land called Sugar rush but I got trapped here and I was hoping you could show us the way out" I say sitting back down in the chair.

He claps his hands together and wraps his fingers around his hand "it would be an honour to help out a fellow royal family so who are these fine people?" he asks gesturing to Vanellope and the others I walk over to Felix and place a hand on his shoulder "this is Felix my court wizard" Sonjay grabs Felix's hand and shakes it "good to meet you sir" Sonjay says Felix nods "the pleasure is all mine" he says I step to the next chair where Calhoun is and introduce her "this is the commander of my army Calhoun" she nods and shakes Sonjays hand I take another step over to Ralph "this is my butler Ralph" I say tapping him on the arm he looks down at me "butler?" he says and i elbow him in the side.

He looks back up at Sonjay and nod "yeah butler" Ralph says rubbing the back of his head "and last but not least" I say stepping over to Vanellope "this is my princess Vanellope" I say wrapping my arm around her she looks at me and shakes her head "princess?" she says I nod "alright now that we all know each other Sonjay how do we get out of here?" Calhoun asks "ah yes well the wizard over yonder will be able to get you out of here" Sonjay says pointing out a window I walk over to the window and look out it in the distance I can see a tall tower with a pointy roof I smile "I see the old mans still kicking" I say leaning on the window sill I look back and everyone's looking at me "you know because hes old and hes a man then again you guys don't know him well me and Sonjay do but you know I'm just shut up now" I turn around and look back out the window "whats his name?" I hear vanellope ask "his name is Lampart" Sonjay tells her "well we better get going and see this wizard" I hear Ralph say I shake my head "its going to take all day to walk there Sonjay do you have any horses or carridges?" I ask him he nods his head "of course follow me" he says walking to the door he entered from.

He takes us to some stables on the outside of the castle I see several horses and a couple carriages there I smile and walk over to the horses but one in particular I recognize his black mane and brown colour I walk up to him and start petting him "long time no see buddy" I say stroking his mane he neighs and presses up against my hand "you know this horse?" Ralph asks I nod "I always rode him in my game" I say jumping onto his back I grab the reins and adjust my self I'm about to make him run when Vanellope jumps on behind me and puts her arms around my waist I smile and shake my head "oh you know that works too" I say whipping the reins.

My horse runs out of the stable and enters an area surrounded by wooden fences that build a circle and I make him run in circles "okay so I'm a bit rusty but I can make this work" I say pulling on the reins and making the horse stop I look back and see Calhoun on a white horse with a grey mane I look closer and see Felix's arms wrapped around her waist I smile and make the my horse walk over "come on Felix if I can do it you can do it too" I say stopping next to them he shakes his head "no thank you Josh I think Ill just enjoy the ride" he says tightening his grip on Calhoun I hear some creaking and look back to the stable.

I see several horses pulling a carriage and in the carriage is Ralph "I don't know about this Josh" he says pulling up next to me "Ralph have you crashed yet?" I ask him he shakes his head "well there you go now lets go" I say pulling the reins and turning towards the gate a couple guards open the gate and we exit into the forest I quickly pull ahead knowing where to turn and when "Josh how long have you known how to ride a horse?" I hear Vanellope ask "I rid them all the time in my game" I tell her "I thought you weren't friends with Sonjay" she says "well i never really asked to ride the horses I just did" I tell her I make a turn around a tree and straight into a player knocking them into the ground my horse jumps over there body and keeps running I look back and see them getting up they pull out a bow and aim it at me but before they get to shoot Calhoun flies around the corner and hits them they fall to the ground again.

I smile as he gets up again only to be run over by Ralph's carriage I begin laughing as I speed up "oh man I didn't know how much I missed this" I say turning up a hill "but its not as fun as racing right?" Vanellope asks me I hesitate for a second "no of course not" I end up saying we reach the top of the hill and I can see the wizards tower only a couple more miles away I sigh "even with the horses its going to be a while before we get to the tower" I tell Vanellope I hear her sigh "don't worry I'll get you home" I say whipping the reins making the horse run again.

We get to the bottom of the hill and are now riding through a swamp "what is that smell?" Vanellope asks "probably the swamp creatures they smell horrible but they usually stay under the water" I tell her "swamp monsters?" she says "well I wouldn't call them monsters but sure" after I say that I can feel her grip tighten on me "don't worry sweet pea we'll be fine" I tell her I look around and see that Ralph has fallen behind "come on Ralph pick up the pace!" I yell at him he looks at me "sorry kid I think my horses are getting tired" he yells back I yank the reins making my horse stop "you know mine looks like he needs some rest to" I say petting him Calhoun stops next to me and hops off her horse.

"alright squirt break time?" she ask I nod my head "we can rest for a while but not too long not around here" I say leaning on a tree Ralph catches up to us and stops "time for a rest" I tell him he nods and gets off the carriage I look around and see a fog starting to creep up on us "oh just perfect" I say with a sigh Vanellope and Calhoun look at the fog and back to me I step towards the fog and pull out my sword I look back and Calhoun has done the same "Ralph protect Vanellope and Felix me and Calhoun will take care of these guys" I say he looks around confused "what guys?" he asks I nod towards the fog and the out line of a figure appear and another and another about a dozen of the swamp creatures step out of the fog and begin walking towards us.

These things are nasty all slimy and their green scaly skin only adds to the creepiness their pitch black eyes that never seem to blink only make it worse but that's not even the biggest problem there are a lot of them but after twenty minutes or so they begin to start thinning out I'm almost done though I'm slowly running out of energy I shake it off "gotta protect Vanellope" I say to my self while I'm decapitating one I grab the arm of one and thrust my sword through it I drop him on the ground and raise my sword again but there's none left I smile and fall to the ground "Josh!" I hear Vanellope yell but I'm too tired to get up I hear them walking towards me and I look up at them.

"alright now its time to rest" Calhoun says I shake my head and stand up "no way are we staying here" I say walking back to my horse I jump on and wait for Vanellope to jump on she does and were off as we ride through the swamp I can feel my eye lids closing I shake my head and open them "Josh are you okay?" Vanellope asks I nod my head "I'm fine just a little tired" I tell her finally after I don't know how long we exit the swamp and are back in the forest as I run around a tree my horse trips on something and we fall to the ground I quickly turn around and catch Vanellope before we hit the ground I look and see my horse laying on the ground and I follow hitting the ground I groan as I sit up with Vanellope in my arms "are you okay?" I ask her she nods and looks around "where are the others?" she asks I look around but cant see them I stand up and put Vanellope down I begin walking around the tree when I hear a laugh I peek around the tree and there they are the others they're knocked out and tied up I bite my lip when I see a bunch of bandits walk out of the bushes I'm about to tell Vanellope when I get hit in the back of the head I fall to the ground and look up "oh that's just great" I say as he kneels down next to me I look at where Vanellope was standing and see that a bandit has grabbed her I look back at Billy who is standing above me unwrapping some rope I groan and lay my head on the ground and black out.


	5. Fork in the road

I open my eyes and look around I see I'm in a carriage with a couple players I shake my head and try to rub my eyes but I realize that I am chained to the carriage I look down at the chains and pull "don't bother Josh we tried already" I hear one of the players say I look up and see one of them looking at me "well you tried I haven't" I say pulling the chains again I look back up at the player "how did you know my name?" I ask he points up above me "your names above your head" he says I look up but can't see anything I shrug and keep pulling at the chains I look down the road the direction were heading and I can see the bandit base I gulp I look around and start panicking I can't see Vanellope, Ralph, Felix or Calhoun I look back to the player "did you happen to see an ogre or little ninja?" I ask him.

He shakes his head "no I woke up and it was just us" he says moving his hand a little to gesture to every one on the carriage "hey quiet down back there!" a bandit yells I shake my head "make me!" I yell back the bandit turns around and pulls out his sword he points it at me it's only an a couple inches from my face I kick it out of his hands and catch it with my chained hands and point it at him "now I'll say again make me" I say pointing the sword in his face. He goes to grab the sword but I slash his hand with it he pulls his hand away and holds it to stop the bleeding he shakes his head and turns around I look and see him wrapping some cloth around his hand he turns around again "keep it I'll get it back soon any ways" he snaps as we pull up to the base I look at the two large wooden doors as they open I look around as we enter and see hundreds of bandits wandering around "oh this is going to be a lot harder than expected" I say to my self.

I look at the large building in the center and see the bandit boss standing at the top the carriage comes to a stop and the bandits start taking every one off when I get taken off they walk me over to a stone block near the front of the base I look as they line up the players and npc's I bite my lip as they bring the first person to the block they lay him down and I see a large guy with a black hood walk out of the building were next to he has a gigantic axe with him I gulp when I realize what he's going to do.

I close my eyes and turn my head away as the executioner lifts his axe I hear the axe hit the block and I hear some one yell "next" I open my eyes and see them putting the next person on the block I look down and see that they only chained my hands together I look around and can see the wizard tower on a hill in the distance I check to make sure no ones looking and run for it "hey some one stop him!" I hear a bandit yell I jump at the wall and glitch smashing through it. I land on the other side and start running but before I get into the forest "Josh Josh help!" I hear Vanellope yell I turn around and start running back to the bandit base "Josh please help!" she yells again I jump back into the base and start beating up bandits left and right I look back and see one running towards me I jump up and do a backflip over him and wrap my chain around his neck and glitch down I hear a snap and he falls down motionless I stand up and see the bandits forming a circle around me "alright who's next?" I ask turning around in a circle.

"that would be me" I turn around and see Billy step into the circle I shake my head "I killed you once Billy I can do it again" I say taking a fighting stance he laughs "you've never killed me kid" he says crossing his arms "you'd be surprised" I say stepping towards him "alright kid what ever you say" he says taking his fighting stance he steps towards me and throws his foot at me I jump up and whip him with my chain he stumbles back and holds his chin where I hit him. I smile and jump at him again he ducks and kicks up and hits me in the chest I fly up and while I'm in the air I look over the wall and see Ralph and the others breaking out on the other side of the bandit base I look back down and aim for Billy I glitch down at him I fly down towards him and keep glitching I finally hit the ground while actually I hit Billy who in turn slams into the ground causing a little crater to be created I stand up and blow the smoke out of my face I look around and see the bandits clearing out of the base.

I begin walking to the hole I made earlier when I hear coughing I look back at the crater and see Billy standing up "this ain't over yet kid" he says brushing him self off I shake my head "come on Billy I'm just trying to get my friends home" I say trying to cross my arms but the chains stop me "no dice kid we are finishing this" he says stepping out of the little crater "so let's finish this" he says clapping his hands together I sigh "alright" I say taking my fighting stance he does the same and we begin our fight. He lunges at me and I roll under him and place my foot on the side of his torso and glitch sending him flying towards the building his back hits the wall and he slowly falls to the ground he gets back up coughing "okay you have some moves I'll admit that" he says placing his hand on the wall for balance I look above his head and see his health bar drop down to half I smile and glitch at him again making him fly through the wall.

His health bar goes down again it's almost depleted now so I glitch up and flip over him and wrap my chain around his neck and grabbing his head with with my hands "alright I'll catch you later Billy" I say twisting his neck his health bar empties and he's dead "oh drat I didn't ask him where my gear was" I say to my self I shrug oh well I'm leaving soon any ways I walk out of the building and jump out the hole I made and begin the walk to the wizard tower where I hope Vanellope and the others are. I'm walking through the woods slowly but surely making it to the tower when I hear some foot steps behind us I turn around and see the players that were on the carriage with me I shake my head "what do you guys want?" I ask they step back "oh well we thought we would be safer with you" a elf says I turn around and keep walking to the tower "well you wouldn't" I say over my shoulder I hear them following me again I sigh and turn around "look guys I'm not going to be around long so you better just go and do your own things" I say shooing them away they look at each other and start separating and walking different directions I turn around and keep walking.

I can see the tower over the hill I'm almost there I reach the top of the hill "I hope your here Vanellope" I say walking to the front door I'm about to knock when I hear some one stomping towards the door "well I'll go look if you guys won't we can't just leave him here!" I hear Vanellope yell "look kid we are not going to leave him here but we need a plan" I hear Ralph say "plan shman" I hear Vanellope yell at Ralph I knock on the door "who is it?" I hear Lampart ask. "it's Josh!" I say suddenly the door flies open and I get hit by it and fly back and land on the ground I try and get up but Vanellope jumps onto me right away "oh Josh your ok!" she says wrapping her arms around me "yeah I'm fine can I get up now?" I ask she shakes her head and tightens her grip on me I sigh and get my chained hands over her head and hug her "how did you get out kid?" I hear Ralph ask I look up at him "I'm just a little son of a glitch" I say with a smile he shakes his head and leans on the wall

. After a couple minutes Vanellope finally let's me get up and Ralph helps me get out of the chains I rub my wrists "so did you guys ask Lampart how to get out?" I ask Ralph he shakes his head "no we had to deal with Vanellope trying to sneak out to find you" he says crossing his arms I smile and put my arm around Vanellope "aww sweet pea you should know I can take care of my self" I say pulling her closer to me she smiles puts her head on my shoulder "I know but I didn't want to leave you here" she says playing with my hand that's around her shoulders "I would have caught up eventually" I say wiping some dirt off my face "sure Josh you believe that" she says with a giggle.

I look over to Lampart who's reading a scroll "so Lampart how do we get out of here?" I ask him he looks up at me and yawns "the door" he says pointing to the ceiling I look up but can't see anything I look over at Ralph but he just shrugs "what door?" I ask Lampart walks over to a door and opens it behind it is a stair way leading up I stand up and grab Vanellopes hand and walk to the stairs I get to the bottom and look up and can see that they lead all the way to the top "well we better start walking then" I say pulling Vanellope up the stairs.

About half way up Vanellope jumps on my back claiming she's too tired to keep walking the stairs I don't argue and just carry her the rest of the way up we reach the top but there's nothing here I look around confused but not to long after I made it up Lampart has made his way to the top "there's no door here old man" he walks over to the edge of the tower and leans on it with his hands "you do not see it for it is hidden" he says turning around and facing me he pulls a potion bottle out of his shirt and pours it on the ground into a seemingly empty space.

Suddenly a door appears out of no where a door similar to the one we entered go get here a smile spreads across my face "Josh look we can go home now!" Vanellope says jumping off my back and running to the door I'm smiling but something doesn't feel right there's an emptiness I'm feeling my smile fades as I walk around the door and look to the land I once called home I lean on the edge and fold my arms I look around and can see the castle I look to my right and see the forest where my tree house is well was I sigh and place my head in my hands.

I feel a hand on my shoulder I don't look and remain motionless "Josh come on let's go home" I hear Vanellope say I look up and turn around "well you see I was hoping to you know visit a while" I say rubbing the back of my head "well I guess we can stay for an hour or two" Vanellope says wrapping her arm around mine "well I mean I was going to stay for uhm..." I trail off and turn around looking back at the forest "for a couple of days" I say Vanellope pulls her arm away from mine "a couple of days? Josh what about sugar rush?" she asks I shrug "your game will be fine with out me" I say looking at her she grabs my arm and squeezes "our game Josh it's our game" she says getting a little choked up.

I bite my lip as her eyes fill with tears "Josh come on" she says pulling me towards the door but I don't budge she stops trying to drag me and steps away "Josh please let's go" she says I look back at my world and back to Vanellope I sigh "Vanellope I won't be gone for ever just a couple of days" I say leaning back on the side of the tower "Josh no let's go now" she says grabbing my arm again I don't budge "kid we don't have a couple of days" I hear Ralph say "actually we have a week Litwak is off at some sort of convention or something" I hear Calhoun say I look over at Vanellope who's standing between the door and me she looks at Ralph and back to me "Josh you can't stay here" she says walking up next to me "why not?" I ask standing up straight she walks behind me and tries pushing me to the door with of course no success "because I said so now let's go" she says still trying to push me I shake my head and pull her in front of me she gets out of my grip and starts hitting me repeatedly "Josh let's go right now!" she says punching me I still don't move and she stops and starts backing away to the door tears falling down her cheeks "Vanellope" I say stepping towards her she shakes her head and runs to the door she stops and turns around "if you stay here don't bother coming back to sugar rush" she says as she starts to storm away "Vanellope wait" I say she stops and turns around I sigh as i look back at my world.


	6. Home sweet Home?

I look around the world my world thinking if I leave now I may never get another chance to return but if I stay Vanellope would shun me I bite my lip "Josh?" she says I can tell by her voice she's obviously hurt I can't think I mean it's my home well was my home exactly it was my home sugar rush is my home now but I might never get the chance to come back here ever again but if I don't want to leave Vanellope the girl I fell for I don't know why but I hear 643's voice repeating what he said on my wedding day "don't worry Josh she's crazy about you" she wants me to stay with her and if I don't she would be sad and I hate it when she's sad I sigh and extend my hand out to her and she grabs it and pulls me through the door I turn my head and take one last look at my old world before Ralph closes the door i frown and turn my head away.

I see that were back in the big Internet city I look up at the big buildings with thousands of doors on them and I wonder how we are going to find our way back home "has any one seen the paper clip?" Felix asks I look at him and see that he has reverted back to his old self I look down and see I have returned to normal as well we are all back to normal "so how do we get home?" Vanellope asks I sake my head "I have no idea" I tell her "did some one call?" I hear the paper clip say I look up and see the paper clip floating above us.

"why yes we were sir" Felix says tipping his hat "alrighty then what can I do for you?" he says floating down to our level "we want to go home" Vanellope tells him "alrighty where is your home?" he asks "litwaks family fun center" Ralph says stepping closer to us "okay well let's go find your home" the paper clip says floating past us and into the large crowd we follow him and make our way through the crowd "do you think he can really get us home?" Vanellope asks me I just shrug and stay silent. The paper clip has led us back to the google building and we enter it he walks up to the rectangle search box and I see him type in "Litwak family fun center" he presses the search button and a bunch of choices are listed he floats to the top and presses the link and a door appears near us I look over at Vanellope and a huge smile spreads across her face she runs to the door dragging me behind her she opens the door and runs in we fly through a blue tunnel and hit the ground I shake my head and look up.

I can immediately tell somethings wrong this looks like game central station but there is only three entrances I read the names above them "sugar rush" "Hero's duty" and "fix it Felix jr" I shake my head and rub my eyes "where are all the other games?" I hear Vanellope ask "I don't know" I say looking back at the door I see the others jump out and they see that somethings wrong as well "where are the other games?" Ralph asks I shrug "I have no idea" I say looking around.

I start walking towards the sugar rush entrance when Vanellope runs past me straight into sugar rush "Vanellope wait!" I yell running after her "hey you two get back here!" I hear Calhoun yell I ignore her and chase Vanellope into sugar rush I get to the end of the tunnel and see Vanellope standing at the top of the trail I run up next to her and stop I look around sugar rush and well it looks exactly like sugar rush Vanellope starts walking down the path and I follow her. Were just out side the castle doors when they open we see Bill standing there looking at us "who are you?" he asks "I'm Vanellope the princess" she says crossing her arms "the princess of what?" Bill asks stepping further into the castle "of sugar rush a doiy" Vanellope says stepping into the castle Bill shakes his head "there is no princess of sugar rush" he says looking at her Vanellope shakes her head "no there is I am" Vanellope says as she starts running to the throne room I quickly follow her I turn a corner and see Vanellope standing out side the door room.

She has a frightened look on her face and shes frozen in place "What's the matter?" I ask her looking into the throne room I see a short balding man with a crown sitting on the throne "who is that?" I ask walking into the throne room "who are you two?" he asks standing up I look back at Vanellope who is still frozen in place I shake my head and turn back to the short guy "my name is Josh and this is Vanellope" I tell him stretching out my arm to shake his hand he grabs it and shakes "it's a pleasure to meet you Josh I am king candy!" he says in a surprisingly cheery tone and a huge smile on his face I give a big smile too and turn back to Vanellope and wave her over. She shakes her head and runs down the hallway "hey what's the matter!" I yell as she turns around the corner I look back at king candy "sorry sir I don't know what what's wrong" I say walking out of the throne room but as soon as I step out of it I remember the story Vanellope told me "king candy was turbo" I say to my self as I run after Vanellope I think to my self he didn't look all that terrifying as I exit the castle I look around for but can't see her any where but I do see Ralph and the others walking out of the tunnel.

I run over to them "where's Vanellope?" Ralph asks "what am I not good enough for you?" I ask Ralph jokingly he shrugs "when she saw king candy she ran out of the castle" I say looking back at the castle "wait woah woah king candy is here?" Ralph asks walking to the castle I stop him "look who ever this king candy guy is he can wait we have to find Vanellope" I finish that sentence and it hits me "diet cola mountain" I say as I turn around and run for it. I stop out side the two sugar free Lolli pops and see Vanellope leaning on the base of the mountain where the entrance usually is she looks up at me with tear filled eyes I sit down next to her and put my arm around her "what's the matter sweet pea?" "this isn't our game Josh I just want to go home" she says putting her head on my shoulder "don't worry I'll get us home even if it kills me" I say putting my head on hers I feel her shake her head she lifts it and looks at me "Josh no I would rather be stuck on the Internet with you than be home with out you" I smile and hug her "don't worry we'll get home safely" I tell her I look up and see Ralph walking towards us.

Ralph smiles and waves at us I wave back "guys are you ok?" he asks I nod my head and stand up "we're fine Ralph just trying to figure out how to get to our sugar rush" I say helping Vanellope up she brushes her self off and we walk back to the exit as were walking past the castle I see king candy standing outside it he sees us and waves as he runs over Vanellope steps behind me and attempts to hide "aw leaving so soon?" he asks in his really annoying cheery voice I nod my head "yeah we really must get home" I say walking towards the exit I turn around and wave at him and he waves back "he didn't seem all that bad" I say to Vanellope she squeezes my arm hard "you didn't know him like I did" she says.

We reach the exit of tunnel and we see Calhoun sitting on the bench outside cleaning her gun she sees us and I wave at her she looks behind her and back at us I wave again and she slowly raises her hand and waves back I narrow my eyes "guys I don't think that's our Calhoun" I say looking up at Ralph he looks down at me "how can you tell?" he asks I shrug "I don't know I just do" I say as we near her.

Calhoun stands up and holsters her gun "hey wreck-it who are the kids" she says I look at Ralph "see I told you that's not our Calhoun" I say with a smirk "well she looks exactly like ours" he says crossing his arms I shake my head and look back to Calhoun who has scrunched her face up in confusion "have you seen fix it Felix?" I ask her she shakes her head "sorry pip squeak haven't seen him since last week" she says sitting back down "he might have gone go see the other Felix and Ralph" Vanellope says pulling me towards the Fix it Felix jr game I walk with her to the game and Ralph follows we step off the train and enter the game to find the others well our friends not the other thems.


	7. First visit

I look at the apartment and see that it looks exactly like Felix's apartment "well I'm guessing that they're going to be in Felix's apartment" Ralph says walking to the building Vanellope follows him pulling me with her we enter the building and head to the elevator we enter it and press the button for Felix's floor Ralph heads for the stairs and me and Vanellope head up the elevator it gets to the floor the doors open and we step out and walk to Felix's apartment we stop out side the door and I knock on it after a few moments the door open and we see Felix standing there.

"howdy there how may I help you?" he asks us "is the our Felix here?" I ask him he looks over his shoulder and I look around him and see our Felix sitting on the couch he sees us and waves "howdy there kids!" he says standing up other Felix steps out of our way and gestures for us to enter Vanellope runs in dragging me behind her we jump onto the couch and get comfortable "where's Ralph?" Felix asks sitting down next to us "he went up the stairs" I say leaning my head on the back of the couch.

I close my eyes while the Felix's talk to Vanellope ready to rest but Vanellope is trying to keep me awake "Josh I'm bored" she says poking me in the face I turn my head away from her and close my eyes tighter she keeps poking me but I ignore her and begin to fall asleep and when I do I find my self back in the forest walking through it a bowstring around my neck quiver on my back I'm walking to my hunting tree.

I get there and climb half way up and sit on a branch I grab my bow and string and load an arrow I lean my back onto the tree and wait it felt like hours but the sun has barely moved a deer has wandered into shooting range I aim at it pull the string I aim for the heart and release the string sending the arrow flying towards its heart it hits and the deer falls I jump down and walk over to it I kneel down next to it and pull put my sword ready to skin it when I hear some growling I look up and see several pairs of eyes peering at me from a bush.

I stand up and point my sword at them one of them walks out of the bush and I see that it is a wolf "come on guys I need this more than you do" I say stepping towards the deer the wolf bends it's front legs ready to pounce and it does I grab it's neck midair and thrust my sword into it's chest and throw it behind me I pull my sword put as the wolf hits the ground I turn around just as one of the other wolves pounce on me knocking me onto the ground I grab it's head and try to push it off me as it tries biting me.

I look to my right and see my sword on the ground I reach for it but it's just out of my reach I kick the wolf off of me and roll over to my sword I jump over it and grab it I land on my feet the wolf jumps at me again and I trust the sword straight into it's face it falls limp and slides off my sword I look back at the deer and see a couple wolves devouring it I run over and start swinging my sword at them they run back into the bushes and are gone.

I pick at the deer seeing if there is any salvageable meat but there isn't I sigh as my stomach growls I stand up shake my head "another meal lost?" I hear Reginald ask I nod my head "damn wolves attacked me" I say turning around and face him and he's kneeling next to one of the wolves he pulls out a knife and starts skinning the wolf he looks up and shrugs "we could use them for blankets or something" he says getting all the fur off the wolf.

We finish skinning the wolves and we head back to Reginald's boat we get there and we clean the wolf fur Reginald takes the fur and he sows two blankets together one for me and one for him "not bad eh?" he says wrapping the blanket around himself I smile and stand up "not bad at all buddy" I say wrapping the blanket around me "well now we can stay warm on out stake outs" he says taking the blanket off of him and hanging it on the railing of the ship.

I do the same with my blanket "so what shall we do now?" he asks me leaning on the rail I shrug "we have all day have you been out side our game yet?" I ask him he shakes his head "no not yet" he tells me "I haven't either" I say jumping off the boat onto shore "where are you going?" he asks me "I'm going to see how the outside of our game is" I tell him walking towards the exit I get to the exit tunnel of my game and stop outside of it I take a deep breath and enter the tunnel I'm walking through it and it's dark for a minute until a light appears at the end I cover my eyes from the light as I enter game central station for the first time.

I look around at all the game characters doing their own thing walking to their games or other games "wow this place is cool" I say to my self as I step through the gate way a blue light flashes and blue man appears in front of me scaring me I jump onto him and knock him to the ground his glasses fly off and hit the ground and I start hitting him he throws his arms in front of his face trying to block my punches he flashes and disappears I forward and hit the ground I look up and see a couple characters looking at me I stand up and brush my self off I force a smile and keep walking through game central station.

As I'm walking through the crowd I bump into somebody I look up and see that it was Billy he turns around and looks down at me I turn around and try and walk away but he picks me up by the back of the collar and turns me to face him he brings me up to eye level "what's the big idea kid?" he asks me I shrug "I didn't see you" I tell him he narrows his eyes "alright kid what ever" he says dropping me I land on my butt and look back up I stand up "hey jerk wad" I say pointing a finger at him he looks back at me and crosses his arms "what is it?" "what's with dropping me" "I can already tell you are going to get on my nerves kid beat it" he says shooing me away and turning back towards some of the other enemies I narrow my eyes and walk up next to him "hey I'm not done talking to you" I say pushing his leg.

He looks back down at me and kneels down "kid you better scram or I'll make you scram" he says poking me in the chest I cross my arms "and how are you going to do that?" I ask him he cracks his knuckles and stands back up "like this" he says grabbing me by the collar and lifting me up he holds me with one hand as he pulls back his other he punches me and I fly into the wall I slide down the wall and hit the ground I shake my head and stand back up I lean on the wall with one hand and hold my cheek with the other I look back at him and he's laughing I walk back to my game and enter the tunnel "yeah well I wont be coming out here for a while" I say entering my game I go back to Reginald's and grab my blanket "what the heck happened to you?" Reginald asks me "oh nothing" I say as I jump off the boat and head back to my tree house I jump in and lay down with my new blanket and fall asleep.

I wake up again and I'm back in Felix's apartment I look to my left and see that Vanellope has fallen asleep I look to my right and see Ralph sitting on the floor he looks and sees that I have woken up "hey there kid my names Ralph" he says extending a finger to me I grab it and shake it "hello I'm Josh" I say letting go of his finger "well Josh its good to meet you" "the pleasures all mine mr wreck-it" I say as I pull my arm from under Vanellope I rub it as I roll my shoulder "how long was I asleep?" I ask Ralph he shrugs "I just got here" he tells me standing up.

I walk over to the window and look open it I lean out the window and I can see my Ralph outside with both Felix's and I think our Calhoun sitting outside I smile and wave at them but they cant see me I look back into the apartment and I see that other Ralph is heading to the door "well we better go see the others" he says opening the door "you go ahead I'm going to wait for Vanellope to wake up" I tell him sitting down on the couch he nods and walks out closing the door behind him I lift Vanellopes head and put her head back onto my arm I sit quietly waiting for her to wake up.

Finally after a couple she does I look down at her as she sits up and rubs her eyes "oh hey Josh" she says while she crosses her legs "have a nice nap?" I ask her she nods her head "yes very good" she says laying down on my arm again I lift her head off me and stand up she start pouting and she crosses her arms I smile and extend my hand to her she grabs it and I help her off the couch "come on lets go see the others" I say pulling her to the door.

We exit the apartment and we walk over to Ralph and the others "hey kids have a good sleep?" Ralph asks us I nod "yeah we did" I say as we sit down next to them "so what's the plan for getting home?" Vanellope asks one of the Ralph's shrugs "we don't yet were still planning" he says "well can you plan I little faster?" she asks him "were trying but we still don't know which door we came from" our Ralph says "well the paper clip must know which door we came from" Vanellope says running for the exit.

I jump up and follow her she jumps onto the train and I do the same me and Vanellope look back and we see the others getting up as the train pulls away "so if we find the paper clip that took us here then we can find our way home" I say as the train makes it's way through the tunnel Vanellope nods and grabs my hand "I can't wait to go home" she says as the train stops in the game central station look alike we jump off the train and run for the door we get to the door and I open it.

I lean out the door and turn my head searching for the paper clip "do you see him?" Vanellope asks me I shake my head "no there's too many people in this place" I say stepping out the door "well last time we just called him and he appeared" she says stepping outside the door and standing next to me "alright call him" I say leaning on the building we exited "fine I'll call him" she says stepping closer to the crowd of people she makes a circle with her hands and places her now circled hands around her mouth "hey mister paper clip are you out there!" she yells after a couple of minutes and still no response Ralph Felix and Calhoun have caught up to us.

I jump onto Ralph's shoulders and begin searching the through the crowd "did you guys find him?" Ralph asks me I shake my head "no not yet" I tell him I step onto the top of his head and start jumping I see Vanellope running through the crowd I look down and see that Vanellope is still standing next to Ralph's leg I look back to the crowd and see the other Vanellope jumping through the crowd "guys I found another Vanellope" I say sitting on Ralph's head "yeah I saw her too" Ralph says taking me off his head and placing me on his shoulder.

"so what if there's another me you guys aren't replacing me" Vanellope says crossing her arms "I don't know she might not be rude" Ralph says "or abusive" I add rubbing my shoulder I look down at Vanellope and she has her bottom lip curled out and she's tapping her foot I laugh and look back to the crowd Vanellope jumps onto Ralph's other shoulder she reaches around his head and punches me in the shoulder and I fall off of Ralph and hit the ground I shake my head "I think my point has been made" I say rubbing my shoulder.

She crosses her arms again and looks away I jump back onto Ralph's shoulder and keep looking around "screw this I'm going to look for the door my self" I say jumping off of Ralph's shoulder and try and run into the crowd but I get picked up by Ralph and he lifts me up "no you are staying with us" he says putting me back onto his shoulder I cross my arms "why am I staying with you guys?" I ask "the last time you went some here by your self we wound up lost on the internet" Calhoun says walking up next to us "well technically we wound up lost in my game" I say standing up on Ralph's shoulder.

Ralph looks at me "well either way we wound up lost" he says walking towards the crowd "well I got us out too" I say looking away from him I look around but can't see the paper clip any where I sigh "does any one know how big the Internet is?" I ask "too big" Calhoun says to me I spot a bunch of familiar faces but I know they're not the ones I know "how many people like us do you think are out there?" I ask no one in particular "hundreds most likely but there could be thousands" Calhoun says searching through the crowd.

I sigh "so there are hundreds of me's out there?" I ask Ralph shakes his head "I doubt it how many you's have left their games and joined sugar rush?" he asks I shrug "I have no idea" I say looking through the crowd "where is that paper clip?" Vanellope asks "he could be any where" Ralph tells her Vanellope sighs and looks down at the ground "don't worry we will find him" I tell her she looks up at me and smiles "I know Josh I just want it to be sooner rather than later" she says I nod my head "me too sweet pea me too".

I jump back onto Ralph's head and start jumping again "Ralph do you have any idea where you're going?" I ask him he shakes his head almost making me fall off "I have no idea" he says "well your going to get us lost" I tell him he shrugs "wouldn't be the first time we got lost" he says "we could be stuck here forever" I say sitting down on his head and crossing my legs "no we won't" Vanellope says looking at me I shake my head.

I look at her "we could get lost and never get back home" I tell her "Josh shut up!" she yells as she looks away from me crossing her arms I shake my head and look away from her I spot a big door with above it I look down at the others "steam is what they use in a sauna right?" Calhoun nods "okay cool I've never been in a sauna before" I say as I jump off of Ralph's shoulder and run for the big door "hey private get back here!" I hear Calhoun yell as I open the big door and jump in. 


	8. Man vs Machine

I fly through the tunnel and land on the ground I look up and see a tall bald man that reminds me of Ralph except well he's bald and his head is more egg shaped he even has a red shirt and he has a black vest over his shirt he grabs me by the back of my jacket and helps me up onto my feet I brush my self off "thank you" I say stretching out my hand to him he grabs it and shakes it hard "oh no problem little guy" he says laughing he walks away and I see him pull a sandwich out of his pocket he starts eating it and disappears into a crowd I smile and shake my head "weird" I say to my self.

I look around to see where I am and see that I'm in a large square room with a bunch of what I'm guessing are portals covering all the rooms I walk up to one of the portals and try and read the name above it when someone comes barreling out of it they run straight into me and knock me down they trip over me and fall to the ground I look up as they scramble to their feet he's skinny he's carrying a shot gun and bat he turns around and looks at me "sorry squirt those robots they've lost it" he says turning around and running into the crowd and pushing people out of his way I turn back to the portal and walk into it.

I look around as I appear in this new world I blink a couple of times and continue walking I see that I'm in some sort of factory I look around and see a couple charters running around the factory frantically pushing buttons and pulling levers I feel a hand on my shoulder and turn around to see a squarish man in overalls and a yellow helmet with one glove standing there "what are you doing here kid?" he asks I shrug "just looking around" I tell him "well were having a little problems with the robots it is very dangerous to be here" he says crossing his arms "don't worry I can handle my self" I tell him crossing my arms as well. He gives me a look of disbelief and shakes his head "alright kid just stay out of trouble and don't touch anything" he says walking away I smile and continue walking through the factory I stop and look out a window and see what he was talking about hundreds of robots standing out side the factory trying to get in "they've been like this ever since they found out we can leave the game" some one says behind me I look back and see a tall slim guy in a fancy suit and a red ski mask he pulls something out of his pocket and opens it he pulls out a smoke and lights it he begins smoking it as he walks towards the window.

He leans on the wall next to the window as he looks out it "so what are you guys going to do about them?" I ask him he blows some smoke out of his mouth and looks down at me "what we've been doing fight them off we have made it look like a new game add on" he finishes the sentence and takes another drag of his smoke "so why were the robots created in the first place?" I ask him "they were created to do our job for us" he tells me "what was your guys job?" "fighting" he says throwing his smoke on the ground and stepping on it to put it out I reach down for my sword and see that I got my old one back I reach down and grab my pistol I pull it out and check my ammo "one clip" I say to my self I place the clip back into my pistol.

The man sees me do this and he raises an eye brow at least it looks like he did it's hard to tell with his mask "I'll help you guys out" I say pulling my sword out and swinging it around I open the window and try and jump out but some one grabs me by the back of the collar and pulls me back in when I fly back into the window I see a missile hit the wall above the window I look up and see a guy in what looks like a black gas mask standing above me he starts speaking but all it sounds like is muffling to me "I'm sorry I can't understand you" I say standing up he begins muffling again I look up at the fancy suit guy "he's asking what your doing" he says to me I look back at the gas mask guy and shrug "I was going to kick some robot butt" I tell him he looks at the ski mask guy an begins muffling again.

I look up at the ski mask guy and see that he has crossed his arms "well he looks like he can handle him self" he says looking at me and again with the muffling "well I don't even know who he is why would his death affect me" he says looking back to the gas mask guy I shake my head and head back to the window I'm about to jump out again when the window slams shut I look up and see that it was a guy with an eye patch he's holding a bottle with one hand and he's keeping the window closed with the other he takes a drink from his bottle and looks down at me he finishes his drink and kneels down next to me "oy kid what do you think you were doing?" he asks.

I look at the window and back to him "I was going to kick some robot butt" I tell him he starts laughing and stands back up I sigh "whats so funny?" I ask him he wipes his mouth and points out the window "what made you think you could just jump out that window and start killing those monsters?" he asks still laughing I roll my eyes and pull out my sword "well if you can do it I should be able to do it a lot better" I say walking to the window again.

I get to the window and open it again I spin my sword around and get ready to jump out again I jump and get grabbed I turn my head and see Ralph standing there holding me by the back of my collar "aw come on how do you guys always find me?" I ask as I cross my arms "you don't blend in too well with any one" he says walking back to the portal "I blended in just fine in my game" I tell him as I squirm to get out of his grip "well this isn't your game kid" he says as we near the portal "well I wish it was!" I yell as I start glitching back towards the window yanking Ralph's arm with me.

I start to get closer but Ralph keeps pulling me towards the portal "come on kid we have to go" he says yanking me I shake my head and keep glitching I'm near the window when he finally let's go I fly towards the window and fly through it I spin and land on a rock outside I turn back towards the factory and see Ralph standing at the window I smile and wave as I jump off the rock "Josh get back here!" he yells as I start destroying the robots "come on Ralph we have a week to get home whats the rush?" I ask as I decapitate a robot I flip over the next one and pull out my pistol I shoot into the mob of robots dropping a few but there are hundreds starting to swarm around me.

I smirk and start glitching around bouncing off the robots and flying through a couple I flip and land and see that Ralph has jumped down he starts smashing the robots as I slash them we start thinning them out and pushing them back just when we thought we won more show up "augh theres just too many" Ralph says bending over and holding his stomach "come on porky there's a battle on the horizon" I say jumping on his back and pointing my sword towards the oncoming robots he stands up straight and I jump onto his shoulder.

He gives me a worried look "come on kid these guys have been able to protect them selfs lets just go" he says I shake my head "you can leave if you want I'm going to stay and destroy these robots" I tell him as I jump off of his shoulder I hear him sigh as I land on the ground "alright alright I'll stay" he says I turn to face the robots and there is one right in front of me I try and jump back but it hits me and I fall to the ground I look over at Ralph who's being jumped on by those really fast robots I look back at my robot he raises his boxing glove and is ready to hit me again when his head gets shot he falls and almost lands on top of me but I roll to the side I look at where I heard the gun being shot.

I see a tall guy with a cowboy looking hat and some glasses he lowers his sniper rifle and tips his hat at me I nod and stand back up I grab my sword and charge at the robots I slide under the first and stab the second I glitch backwards pulling my sword out and hitting the first robot I do a back flip over the third robot and thrust my sword forward when I land stabbing the robot that was behind it I glitch forward and fly through a couple robots "okay maybe Ralph was onto something" I say as I kill a couple more robots "there just maybe a bit more robots than we can handle" I say to my self.

After a long time of fighting we managed to push them back a little more but I'm starting to get tired and if I'm getting tired who knows how bad Ralph is doing right now I spin around another robot as it tries hitting me with it's bat I cut it's legs and it hits the ground I turn around and run face first into a giant vehicle I jump back and shake my head "oh just perfect" I say jumping at the vehicle I start slashing it with my sword but it's barely making a scratch "Ralph I need some help over here!" I yell as I stab the tank "I'm going to need a second" he yells back as he smashes a couple robots "tank!" I hear some one yell back at the factory I turn around and see a couple guys run out of the factory with weapons in hand.

I jump off the tank as they open fire on it I look over at the guys who have left the factory to help one big guy that looks like the one that helped me up earlier he's carrying a large mini gun and he's shooting the tank and any robots near it to his left is the same guy with the sniper rifle he's shooting any robot trying to get near them I see some one step out from behind the big guy as a robot gets close to them he shoots a flame thrower at the robot and burns "you know Ralph you may have been right about them being able to protect them selfs" I yell at him as he smashes some robots "can we leave now?" Ralph asks I shake my head "no this is too much fun" I say jumping back at the robots.

We continue fighting off the robots with the help of the guys from the factory we manage to push the robots to a tunnel and we blow up the entrance all the guys from the factory start cheering as we walk back to it "good job kid" the eye patch guy says patting me on the head the gas mask guy walks up beside me and starts muffling again I smile and start nodding he finishes what ever he was saying and pats me on the head and walks away "okay we helped the people let's go find the others now" Ralph says as he picks me up and heads towards the exit portal.

We step through the portal and enter the portal area to all the other games "okay so where did the others go?" I ask Ralph he shrugs "they went to go look for you" he says as he enters the large crowd we look around for the others but can't find them "there are hundreds of portals here they could be any where" Ralph says to me as I jump onto his head "well they would probably be following Calhoun so we have to think like her" I say looking at all the portals "well she would be trying to think like you" Ralph says as he grabs me and puts me back onto his shoulder I look around at all the games and think where would I go first I spot a portal with a name that I find funny "what about that one" I say pointing at it Ralph shrugs and walks over to it and we enter the portal to a game called Portal.


	9. Puzzles and portals

We enter the game and we end up in what I'm guessing is an office building I look around but I cant see any one "I don't think there's any one here kid" Ralph says walking down a hallway to the left of the front desk "well there has to be there can't be a game with no characters" I say jumping off his shoulder and looking through a door "have you ever heard of tetris?" Ralph asks me I shake my head "no never" I say walking through another door I see a window on the opposite side of the door I walk over to it and look through it I see a lady wearing an orange jumpsuit walking around the room on the other side of the window "Ralph some ones in there" I tell him pointing to the lady.

He tries to enter the room but he can't fit through the door he looks at me with an annoyed expression and points a finger at me "don't say anything" he says as he peeks his head through the door and looks out the window "who is that person?" he asks I shrug "I have no idea let's go ask" I say taking a couple steps away from the window "what are you?" before Ralph finishes asking his question I'm running at the window I jump at it and glitch through smashing it I fly past the lady and hit the wall behind her I shake my head and look up at her she narrows her eyes and walks over to me I stand up and shake my self "sorry about that hello my name is Josh" I say as I reach out to shake her hand she grabs it and shakes "so whats your name?" I ask her she opens her mouth but doesn't say anything "you have a name don't you?" I ask she quickly nods her head.

She gestures to her mouth and makes a throwing up motion "what you need to throw up?" she shakes her head "ok so you threw up so much you can't speak?" she shakes her head again "ok so you want to throw up?" she slaps her face with her palm "I'm sorry I have no idea what you're trying to tell me" "kid I think she's trying to tell you she can't talk" I hear Ralph say I look around the lady and see ralph stepping through the broken window "oh well I guess that would make more sense" I say looking back at the lady "so you can't talk then?" I say and she nods her head "well that must suck" I say as I cross my arms "well has a short girl with black hair and a green hood been through here?" I ask the lady she shakes her head "okay what about a tall blonde lady with body armor?" I ask the lady shakes her head again.

I sigh "ok what about a short guy with a blue hat and a golden hammer?" I ask she nods her head "okay great where did he go?" I ask she points through a circular door and starts walking to it I follow her to the door and try and walk through it but it doesn't open I look up at the lady and she gestures to the room I see a dotted line going from the door to a button on the ground I walk over to the button and jump on it but nothing happens the lady taps my shoulder so I look up at her she points to a hole in the middle of the room I walk over to it and look down I see a square box at the bottom of it "oh thats just perfect so we need that box?" I ask her and she nods her head I sigh and jump down.

I land on the bottom and grab the box and glitch back up to the top I bring it over to the button and place it down the button goes down and the door opens "great let's go" I say to Ralph as I run through the door I see a little what I'm guessing is a elevator in a tube waiting for us the lady gestures to it and I step in "sorry Ralph this thing won't fit you why don't you go look for Calhoun or Vanellope" I say as the lady steps into the elevator as well Ralph nods and walks back to the portal "okay so where's my friend?" I ask the lady as I step off the elevator she shrugs and gestures to the door to the next room I walk to it and the door opens revealing a small white room I step into the room and see something spinning around slowly in the middle of the room it stops at every wall and shoots something blue and every different time it shoots the last blue thing disappears.

I walk up to it and get a closer look the lady walks up next to me and grabs the gun thing she places her arm in the hole at the back and aims it around "what is that thing?" I ask her she points to her eyes and back to the gun "watch?" she nods and aims at one of the white walls she shoots it and one of the blue holes she walks up to it and I follow she steps through the hole and I do the same we end up some where else "oh cool it's a portal gun thingy" I say as I look back at the portal I notice that the portal we exited is orange.

I look back at the room we entered and it looks like another puzzle I sigh and follow the lady as she makes her way through the room she solves the puzzle and we enter the elevator room "this is going to take forever to find Felix" I say as the elevator door closes and it goes down I feel a tap on my head and look up at the lady she reaches down and taps my chin up I smile and look back down "alright chin up" I say as the elevator stops and opens up we step out and walk into the next room the lady stops me and walks ahead of me I follow her and watch as she stops at a corner she peaks her head around it and pulls her head back right away "what is it?" she makes a gun with her fingers and pretends to shoot "guards?" she makes a motion with her hand "kind of?" she nods I walk around her and peak around the corner I see a small oval shaped white thing I step out of the corner and it's one eye shoots open "target acquired" it says as it's sides open up.

I feel the lady pull me back around the corner just as bullets fly past where I was standing and hit the wall that was behind me "okay thanks" I say as I stand back up I pull out my pistol and spin it around my finger I aim it around the corner and shoot the turret it falls down and it's eye closes as it shuts down I smile and step out of the corner "okay this maybe easier than I though" I say as I run through the hallways shooting the turrets we make it through the hallways and to the puzzle room.

The lady solves the puzzle and we enter the elevator we get to the next room and she solves the puzzles as I destroy the turrets we do this many times we've been through dozens of rooms when I hear it "hello can any one help!" I hear Felix yell I run over to where I heard him and I see him dangling on a railing with a couple turrets under him waiting for him to fall "hang on Felix I'll get you down!" I yell as I run over to help him I draw my sword and slash the turrets in half they fall apart and shut off "oh thank you Josh!" Felix says as he let's go and falls down.

He lands on the ground and brushes him self off he looks back at me and points a finger in my face "now Josh you should know you can't just run off willy nilly doing what ever you want" he says sternly I smile and cross my arms "actually I could you just don't want me to" I say with a smirk he opens his mouth and shuts it right away lowering his finger "okay you're right but make sure you tell us where your going" he says walking past me and heading for the next door I shake my head "too easy" I say as I follow him to the door I stop at the door and turn around I see the lady standing there "are you coming?" I ask she shakes her head and starts walking away "thank you for the help I'll catch you later" I yell after her she nods her head and I walk into the room I enter the elevator behind Felix and it goes down "so how did you find me?" Felix asks "I just thought like my self" I tell him as I turn to face the front "is that lady not coming?" I look around the tiny elevator and back at Felix "oh yeah shes just going to take the stairs" I say sarcastically he looks around the elevator and rubs the back of his head "oh well I can see she's not here now" he says I smile and shake my head.

The elevator stops and we step out instead of solving the puzzle I just glitch my way thorugh with Felix and we step onto a platform it begins moving I look below it and see that it's moving just above some water "can you swim?" I ask Felix he nods his head "yes I can what about you?he asks I nod my head "yeah a little bit" I tell him I look up and see a wall blocking out path but to its left is a small cat walk with no railing I grab Felix's arm and jump onto it before we hit the wall I run around the wall still pulling Felix and jump back onto the platform "this would probably be a lot easier with Ralph" I say to Felix he nods in agreement and stands back up I unzip my jacket as we get closer to the next corner "is it just me or is it getting really hot in here?" I ask Felix as he wipes his forehead with his arm.

He looks down at me and nods "it is getting very hot" he says and when we round the corner I see why it's like an over sized oven I look down at the bottom and see fire covering the ground Felix grabs my arm and pulls me up he points down the track and I see that it ends "crap we have to get out of here" I say as I look around for a way out I spot a railing on the other side of the end of the track I point to it and grab Felix and run to the en of the platform and jump off it I glitch to the railing and grab onto it I throw Felix over the rail and pull my self over and sit on the ground "okay theres one problem solved now how do we get out of here?" I ask Felix he shrugs and stands up "I have no clue" he says as he helps me up I brush my self off and look around and see a couple pipes and a hallway to my left I walk over to it enter it I gesture for Felix to follow me and he does.

It looks like were back in the office but I don't know exactly where we are "gosh Josh this place is huge" Felix says as we turn around a corner "yeah this is going to take way too long I have an idea" I say grabbing his arm I begin glitching through the walls smashing my way around the office I look around and see that I've made it through a bunch of the puzzle rooms I smash through another wall and straight into a metal wall I smash into it with my head and fall to the ground I shake my head and stand back up "what is this?" I ask Felix he stands up shaking rapidly "next time could I get a warning?" he asks I begin laughing but stop I hold my head with one of my hands and begin swaying side to side.

"Josh are you ok?" Felix asks I nod "yeah I'm fine" I say as I turn my attention back to the wall I glitch at it again but it still doesn't break "who's there?" I hear a computerized female voice say "my name is Josh butterscotch" I say walking to the metal wall I reach out to touch the wall but it retracts I watch as it moves out of the way and I see a gigantic robot hanging off the ceiling I jump into the room and approach the robot "oh it's you" she says as I get closer "yeah it's me" I say as I walk up the stairs that wrap around her proximity "your that little guy that was with chell" she says "oh so chell is her name" I say as I reach the top of the stairs.

I stop in front her and cross my arms "so do you know how to get out of here?" I ask she turns towards me and stops "yes I do know how to get out of here" "great so can you tell me?" "no I cannot" "what why not?" "because we have only begun testing" as she says that a large metal arm shoots down from the ceiling and wraps around me and throws me at the wall I hit it and fall to the ground "okay that hurt" I say standing up "what's with evil robots every where?" I ask my self "I am not evil" the evil robot lady says a hole opens up in the ground in front of me what I'm guessing is a turret pops out backwards and turns to face me I jump and flip over it as it starts shooting I look around and see a control panel in a small room to the left "Felix in there!" I yell pointing to the room.

He nods and runs for the room he hops into the room and starts mashing buttons "hey stop that!" the robot lady yells he keeps smashing buttons and I turn back to the turret and see that it has already turned around I jump back to the robot lady and it starts shooting I roll under her and she gets hit by the bullets she spins around and faces me the giant arm and hits me with it I fly back and hit a wall I look down and see I'm slipping down towards a round thing it opens up and I feel an intense heat coming from it a plant my feet on the wall and push off of it I land on the ground and roll I stand up and look at Felix and see that he's still mashing buttons.

Finally something happens and a bunch of round things start falling off of the robot lady I grab one and look at it I look up when I realize the turret has stopped shooting I look at where it was and see it spinning around wildly I smile and look up at the robot lady as she slowly lowers her head towards the ground and shuts off "atta boy Felix you did it" I say dropping the spherical the thing that I had picked up "great we did it now can we leave?" Felix asks hopping down next to me I nod "we can as soon as we find out how to get out of here" I say walking around the room I'm about to walk past a white wall when a portal opens up on it. I look at where the portal was shot from and see Chell standing there holding the portal gun she smiles and waves I wave back and she points to the portal I look through it and see the portal we entered to get into this game I smile and wave Felix over he runs over and looks through the portal "oh great we can leave" he says stepping through the portal I look back at chell and wave "thank you!" I say as I step through the portal I meet Felix on the other side and we leave the game "so where are the others?" he asks as we enter the room to all the games I shrug "Ralph went to go look for the others" I tell him "so where did he go to look" "I don't know he left portal when I went to go look for you" "so what do we do then?" Felix asks "we go and look for them" I say entering the crowd.


	10. Wasteland wanderers

I push my way through the crowd looking for any sign of Vanellope but I can't find her any where "where did Vanellope say she was going?" I ask Felix after a moment with no response I turn around to look at him but he's not there "oh come on Felix how hard is it to keep up" I say to my self as I head back in the direction I came from I jump up and see Felix with Ralph at the other end of the station "okay they found each other now I have to go find Vanellope" I say as I turn around head back in my original direction I get out of a huge crowd and finally get some breathing room.

"god this place is worse than game central station" I say to my self as I look around for Vanellope I see a blue light flashing around the portal station "I'd recognize that flash anywhere" I say as I walk over to her but before I get close she flashes into a portal I run over to see what game she glitched into I read the name above the portal "fallout 3" I sigh doesn't sound very interesting I walk into the portal and enter the game as I enter the game I am blinded by a light I blink as my eyes adjust to it I look around and see that I'm in what looks like a wasteland destroyed houses to my left I see a large dome to my front right side "well I better get looking" I say as I jump off the ledge I was on and down to the ground.

As I walk to the large dome I can feel the scorching sun slowly burning me it's boiling hot so I take off my jacket and wrap it around my waist I approach the front of the dome and see a robot standing in front of the entrance the robot slowly turns to face me "need a drink head to Moriarty's coldest drinks in the land" it says turning away from me again "uh no thanks" I say as I walk past it and enter the dome the there's a large door when I enter the dome so I open it and enter I look around and see that inside the dome is a town "well I'll be another new comer" I hear some one say I look down and see a large man with a cowboy hat and a long brown jacket "hello my names Lucas simms and I'm the sheriff of this town" he says stopping in front of me.

"hello my names Josh butterscotch" I say extending my hand to him he grabs it and shakes it "I don't know why but I like you kid" he says letting go of my hand "the same goes for me now a second ago you said another new comer was the other one a small girl with black hair and a green hood?" I ask him he nods "yeah she was looking for you a guy name Josh" he says "oh great where did she go?" I ask he gestures towards a building on the other side of the town "she went over to Moriarty's bar" he tells me I look at the building and nod "thank you" I say as I run to the bar.

I glitch to the bar and get to the door I open it and walk in a smile spreads across my face when I see Vanellope sitting on a bar stool spinning around she sees me enter and stops spinning she jumps off the stool and runs over to me I pull her in for a hug and she returns it "Josh I was looking all over for you" she says still holding on to me "really because a moment ago you were spinning around on that bar stool" I say squeezing her "well I've been glitching every where it gets tiring" she says letting go of me I shake my head and squeeze her again "well I found you let's go back now" I say pulling her to the door were about to leave when I see a guy sitting in the corner of the bar gesturing for me to go over there "just wait a sec I'm going go talk to that guy" I tell Vanellope "come on Josh we don't have time" she says trying to pull me to the door "we have a week I'll only be a minute" I say getting out of her grip and walking over to the guy.

"my my just when I had all but given up hope my dear boy it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance I am mister burke" he says gesturing for me to sit down I do in the chair next to him "okay Burke what do you want?" "straight to business I like that" he says leaning closer to me he places his elbows on his knees and clasps his hands together "you have no connections in this town you don't know these people" "yeah so?" I ask "well you see the undetonated bomb for which this town is named is still very much alive and what I want you to do is detonate it" he tells me I shake my head and jump off the chair "so you want me to blow up the town!" I yell trying to get everybody's attention which I do a man who looks very old walks over he has white hair and a white beard he's wearing a black vest and a white shirt underneath.

"Burke what's this I hear about you wanting to blow up the town?" he asks Burke stands up and straightens out his tie "I said no such thing" he tells the old guy very calmly I smile "yeah right you didn't say anything" I hear a lady say I look over and see a red headed lady wearing all leather walk over "you never liked this town Burke you always hated it" she says pointing a finger at him he chuckles lightly and reaches into his white jacket and pulls out a pistol and aims it at the lady "alright you caught me so what?" he says "I have this gun and if you don't let me leave I will shoot all of you" he says as he begins walking to the door I watch as they let him pass and sigh "why do I have to be so nice" I say as I get ready to glitch.

I glitch at Burke and hit him directly in the chest knocking him to the ground he drops his pistol and I pick it up and toss it to the old guy he catches it and aims it at Burke "well Burke looks like the tables have turned he says walking up to him Burke sits up and raises his hands above his head "alright Burke we are going to have a talk with Lucas" the old guy says gesturing for him to stand so Burke stands up and keeps his hands above his head as he walks to the door "thanks kid anything I can do to repay ya?" the man says I look around the room and I see a pair of goggles hanging up on the wall "I like those goggles" I say pointing to them "take em" he says as he escorts burke out of the bar.

I smile and walk over to the goggles I jump up and grab them I look them over and see that there's a small crack on the left lens I shrug Felix can fix them but other than the crack these are some nice goggles chocolate brown leather around the lens and a black leather adjustable strap I smile and place them on my head Vanellope walks up behind me and adjusts them for me "is that good?" she asks tightening the strap I nod "yeah perfect I say turning around I place the goggles over my eyes and look around "they could use a cleaning but I like them" I say as I place them back on the top of my head "okay great you got your goggles now let's go" she says pulling me to the door.

We leave the bar were back in the scorching hot town "I dislike the heat very much" I tell Vanellope she nods "yeah me too" she says pulling her hood off "well lets hurry up and leave" she says grabbing my hand and pulling me through the town "so we just go back the way we came?" I ask her she shrugs "I guess so I don't know" she says as we near the exit were about to leave when Lucas stops us "hey kid I heard about what you did at the bar and I would like to thank you" he says extending his hand to me I grab it and shake it with my free hand.

He rubs his chin with his hand "you know why don't you move in?" he asks I think for a moment but Vanellope punches me in the shoulder with her free hand "don't tell me you were actually thinking about it" she says squeezing my hand "what no never" I say pulling her to the door "thanks any ways simms" I say as me and Vanellope exit the town "okay this time I'm not letting go of you" she says tightening her grip on my hand I smile and shake my head "right because some one holding on to me always ends so well" I say rolling my eyes.

We exit the town and begin walking to where we came from were almost home free when a couple of people stop us one has a Mohawk and a tire wrapped around his torso he steps up pulls out a gun "alright pip squeak hand over any weapons caps and ammo you have" he says cocking his shot gun I sigh and pull out my pistol and wrap my arm around Vanellope's torso and squeeze she understands and glitches us past them when we appear on the other side of them I turn around and start firing my pistol at them after a couple second they have all fallen motionless on the ground.

I look over at Vanellope and she has covered her eyes I squeeze her torso again start pulling her towards the exit were close to the exit when I get hit in the back of the head and fall down I hold my head as I hit the ground and I hear Vanellope scream I look up and see a couple more guys like the ones I just killed I try and grab my pistol but one of them kicks me in the face knocking me onto my back again "oh you are just the worst type of people" I manage to say before I black out.

I jump onto Reginald's boat and look around for him I see him at the front cleaning his spy glass I tip toe up to him and when I reach him I grab his shoulder and scream I laugh as he jumps up and falls over the railing into the water I look down and see him swimming to the shore he reaches it and looks up and sees me smiling and waving at him he narrows his eyes and frowns as he stands up "that was not funny" he says as he crosses his arms "I don't know it was pretty funny from my point of view" I say as I lean on the railing he shakes his head and walks over to the ramp to board his ship he gets onto the ship and walks over to a small chest and opens it he pulls out the wolf blanket he made and starts drying him self off with it he finishes and puts the blanket away again then walks over to me "so my friend what are your plans for today?" he asks me I shrug and stand up straight "I was planning to go out and try and explore the arcade today" "what about Billy?" he asks.

I shrug again "I'll just try and avoid him" "well good luck with that from what I've heard he has it out for you" he tells me as he pats me on the shoulder "seriously what is his problem with me we've only been plugged in a few weeks how what did I ever do to him?" I ask Reginald shrugs "I don't know why don't you ask him?" I laugh and wave him away "no way am I going to talk to him I would rather just stay in this game my entire life" I say as I begin walking to the exit "well your going to have to face him eventually!" Reginald yells as I jump off the boat "and if that ever happens which I doubt it will he will destroy me!" I yell back I begin running and when I reach the tree line I jump into the trees, I jump through the trees as fast as I can making record time, I make it through the forest so I jump down and run up the path to the exit when I see Billy walking out of it I roll my eyes and slow down to a brisk walk.

Billy sees me and stops he crosses his arms and watches as I make my way up to the exit " hey kid where do you think your'e going?" he asks "just going to go look around" I tell him as I walk past him he shakes his head and continues walking down the path I walk through the dark tunnel making my way to game central station when I bump into somebody and fall to the ground "oh crap sorry I cant see a thing" I say as I stand up "no worries" I hear them say I squint my eyes to try and get a better look at who I bumped into and I recognize Sonjay "yeah well they really need to get lights in here" I say nervously while I rub the back of my head "Don't worry about it its not your fault" he says again as he walks past me "well okay I'll catch you later" I say as he walks away he doesn't respond and keeps walking I shake my head and continue walking to game central station.

I shake my head as I wake up again I look up and around and see that I'm in the corner of a plaza type place stuck behind a set of fences with a couple other kids I look down to my right and see Vanellope laying down on a bed next to me I see some sort of metallic collar around her neck "what the hell" I say as I lean closer to her "I wouldn't touch that if I were you" I hear a kid say I look over and see a kid leaning on the fence "why not?" "because we don't know how they work" he says I'm about to say something when I begin vomiting "oh crap" I say as I wipe the puke off my mouth.

"looks like you have radiation poisoning" the same kid says standing up and walking over to me "what?" I say he shakes his head and kneels down next to me "radiation poisoning you know being to exposed to radiation too much" he says I shake my head "I'm not from around here" I say standing up "well you must have been exposed at some point you've been out for a whole day" he tells me I shake my head "what bull" I say stepping back over to Vanellope I kneel down next to her and start shaking her "Vanellope sweet pea wake up we have to go now!" I say still shaking her.

Finally she opens her eyes and sees me standing over her she jumps up and hugs me "oh your ok!" she says I nod my head "yes I'm fine but we have to go" I say pulling her to the gate of the fence "okay if you guys are leaving we want in" I hear a kid say I sigh and pull Vanellope to the gate "alright you guys can tag along" I say getting to the gate "well we have to we need to find the remote that controls these stupid collars" a kid says tugging at his "why do we need a remote?" I ask "well to turn these collars off so they don't explode" the same kid says as he stops pulling at his collar I begin panicking "oh that's not good" I say as I start pulling at Vanellope's collar she pushes my hand away "okay I think I can get it off" she says she steps away from me and glitches she appears a foot away from where she was and the collar is off I smile and do the same with my glitching.

I look at the kids and they are all astonished by me and Vanellope "oh that's just not fair" one of the kids say as he crosses his arms I shrug "its a curse as much as it is a gift" I tell them "oh I'm so sure about that" a kid says sitting back down on the ground "alright guys Vanellope will stay here with you I will go and find that remote to turn off the collars" I say turning back to the gate I step back and try and grab my pistol I look down and see that they have taken my pistol and sword I sigh and jump up over the fence I land on the other side and stand up.

I turn around and look back at the kids "wait here" I say as I begin walking towards the building on the right hand side of the plaza "oh yeah because we really have a choice" I hear one of the kids yell I turn back toward the building and crouch down "alright this place first" I say to my self I step behind a car and look around the corner of it I see a couple guys wearing black armor and they're carrying large guns "oh great" I say to my self I look at the other side of the road and roll away from the destroyed car and leap around the corner of the building.

I lean on the wall and think for a second "what am I doing I could easily glitch my way through all these guys" I say to my self I stand up and glitch backwards through the wall I land on something soft I sit up and look around and see that I'm on a heart shaped bed I see a couple girls running out of the room I look to my right and see a guy sitting on the couch looking really annoyed he sits up straight and pulls out a pistol and aims it at me I look closer and see that he has my pistol I shake my head and glitch at him I crash into him and send him flying into the wall behind him he shakes his head and stands back up I walk over to him and pick up my pistol.

I glitch at him again and smash him into the wall again I grab him by the collar as he slides down the wall "what do you want from me?" he asks "I want you to tell me where my sword is and where the remote for the collar is" I say still holding him against the wall he points to a desk on the other side of the room I let go of him and glitch over to it I see my sword and holster and my pistol holster as well sitting on it I grab my pistol holster and wrap it around my waist and place my pistol in it I do the same with my sword holster except on my back I turn back and face the guy and cross my arms as he stands up coughing.

I'm about to ask where the remote is when I feel more vomit coming up I bend over and begin throwing up again when I stop I look up and see the guy limping to the door I pull out my pistol and am about to shoot him when some on kicks my pistol out of my hand I look at the person and see that they're one of the people that was standing outside I glitch at them knocking them down I run back to my pistol and grab it I turn around and shoot the black armor guy as he stands up he falls back down and remains motionless.

I look back to the first guy and see that he has fallen over he's now leaning on the door I walk over and aim my pistol at his face "now where is the remote for the collars?" I ask he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small square remote with three buttons on it I grab it and look at it I press a button with an unlocked padlock on it "that better have worked or I'll be back for you" I say as I stand up and walk over to the hole I made in the wall I jump out and run over to the place where we were locked up I reach it and look in I see that the kids have taken off their collars and are now walking towards the gate.

Vanellope sees me and smiles she glitches through the gate and next to me "great you did it!" she says hugging me I nod "okay people let's get out of here" I say breaking the lock on the gate but when I do I hear an alarm go off I look back and see more of the black armored guys run around the pile of broken cars and straight for us "okay sweet pea get these guys out of here" I tell her as I guide her to a make shift wall of the plaza "what how am I supposed to do that?" she asks "glitch them through the wall" I tell her as I turn around and grab my pistol I begin shooting the guys and they begin falling one dives for cover and another keeps running for me while the rest lay dead.

I hold them off with my pistol an sword and when I look back I see Vanellope glitching the last kid out of here I smile an glitch over to the wall I stop in front of it and Vanellope glitches back through "Josh lets go" she says as she grabs my arm and glitches us through the wall I wrap my arm around her torso and pull her closer we begin running following the kids we freed "where are they going Vanellope asks me "I don't know but it must be safe other wise they wouldn't be going there" I tell her.

We catch up to the kids and begin running next to them "so where are you guys going?" I ask them "little lamp light" one of them says jumping over a rock "I don't know about this Josh" Vanellope says to me "well we don't have much options now do we" I say as I start slowing down I try to keep up but I keep falling behind "come on Josh" Vanellope says as she tries pulling me ahead "I don't think.." I cant manage to finish the sentence because I begin throwing up again I trip on a rock and fall to the ground I keep throwing up and when I finally stop I fall onto my back.

Vanellope kneels down next to me and tries helping me up even a couple of the kids stop to help me "come on Josh we have to go" she says pulling on my arm I sit up and hold my stomach "I'm not feeling so hot" I say "no Josh you have to be okay" Vanellope says at this point she's now dragging me across the ground I manage to get to my feet I use Vanellope to balance my self as we make our way through the desert "so how far to little lamp light?" I ask one of the kids "not too far" one of them says pointing to a hill in the distance "do you have a doctor there or something?" Vanellope asks them "well sorta kinda she's like a doctor" a kid says "what do you mean kinda like a doctor?" I ask through breaths.

We reach the hill and I see a door at the base of the hill "is that it?" I ask one of the kids nods and runs to the door "come on Josh just a little further" Vanellope says helping me to the door we get to it and some one opens it for us and we enter on the other side of the door is a little tunnel we walk through it on the other side of the tunnel is a large metal gate it opens for us and we enter "hey what's with the new bloods" a kid wearing a helmet and all green says jumping down from a platform "they helped us escape from paradise falls" one of the kids say.

The kid wearing green walks up to us and stops "is that so well they must be pretty tough then well the girl looks alright but the guy looks like hammered shit" he says looking at me Vanellope let's go of me and points a finger at him "you listen here bub Josh is tougher than all of you put together" she says angrily at him I begin falling "van sweet pea?" I say weakly I'm about to hit the ground when a couple kids catch me and straighten me out as Vanellope continues her rant "okay okay calm down there sweet cheeks" he says tapping her on the cheeks I try to say something but my vision becomes blurry and I start throwing up again.

The same green guy walks over to me and grabs my shoulder "what the hells the matter with you?" he asks "we think he has radiation poisoning" one of the kids say "well that's just perfect another body to take care of get him to Lucy" the kid in green says the kids nod and help me over to a small shack on the right side of the small cave we are in we enter the shack and I see that there are three rooms they take me to the second one and I see another kid standing in front of a cabinet rummaging through it.

One of the kids let's go of me and walks over to the girl "hey Lucy we have some one with radiation poisoning can you help him?" they ask her she turns around and walks over to a table and grabs a needle on it "alright sit him on the bed" she says gesturing to the bed at the side of the room they carry me over and place me on the bed Lucy walks over and grabs my arm she moves the bottom of my sleeve and places the needle in my arm and injects it "alright you should be fine just have some rest" she tells me making me lay down.

I push her arm away and sit up "I'll be fine we need to get home" I tell her as I try and stand up she places a hand on my chest and pushes me back down "no you need rest" she says walking back to the cabinet she grabs something from it and walks back over to me she tries to stick a needle in my arm but I shake her away I jump up and flip over her I land next to Vanellope and grab her arm and pull her out of the shack the guy in green is standing out side and he sees us running out "hey what are you two doing?" he asks "they are trying to make me rest but we need to get home" I tell him he shakes his head "Lucy knows what she's doing you should listen to her" he says crossing his arms.

I shake my head "no time for rest we need to go" I say pulling Vanellope to the gate "alright but you guys wont last ten seconds with out a scav team" he says walking away from us I sigh and keep walking to the gate "woah where do you think your going?" I hear Lucy yell "home!" I yell back they run up in front us and stop us "no you are in no condition to be going any where" she says pushing me and Vanellope back to the shack.

I try and walk around them but they just keep pushing us back "it's way to dangerous for you guys to be walking around out there" Lucy says as we reach the shack "okay so we get ambushed once and suddenly it's too dangerous to be walking around" I say as I pick up Vanellope and jump over the kids "it's like that all over wasteland" Lucy says trying to run in front of us again but me and Vanellope have already made it past the gate and are running through the tunnel "Josh do you even know how were going to get back to the Internet?" Vanellope asks me.

I shake my head "I have no idea" I tell her as we reach the exit of the cave I kick the door open and run out of it "get back here!" I hear Lucy yell "sorry but we have to get home" I yell back "we understand but at least let us send some people with you!" she says as she catches up to us I stop and put Vanellope down "alright okay as long as we get to leave" Lucy nods and turns to one of the kids "go get the scav team" the kid nods and runs back into the tunnel we wait a couple minutes and several kids come walking down the tunnel carrying guns "okay so what are we doing?" one of them ask "you guys are going to escort these two to the exit" Lucy says gesturing to us the kid nods and walks past us.

He stops outside the door and gestures for us to follow so we do we exit little lamp light and head to the right towards the exit I'm guessing we walk through the desert while the kids are formed in a circle around us "so if this place is so bad why don't you guys just leave?" I ask them the one in front turns around to face us and he starts walking backwards "well this is kinda our home if we leave we won't have any where to go" he says holstering his gun I turn my eyes to Vanellope and she does the same I raise an eye brow and she nods "well me and Vanellope live in a castle with lots of free rooms" I tell them.

They all look at each other and back to us "thanks for the offer but this is where we belong" the same kid in front says "so is it true that you saved all those kids from paradise falls?" one of the kids ask I nod "yeah we did" "really that's awesome!" another kid says I look around to see where we are I see a couple electrical towers to my right I look to me left and see some fences a couple meters away I see the kids duck down the one in front gestures for us to duck down as well "what is it?" I ask "that's fort bannister it's talon companies camp" he whispers.

I look at the camp and see some guys in black armor carrying some guns around "so are they jerks or something?" I ask the kid in front nods and starts moving away from the camp still crouched "well what do they do?" "they kill people for money" one of the kids tell me I shake my head "and people just let them do that?" I ask "well they have more guns and people then almost everybody and the people that can stop them won't" the kid in front says angrily I look over at the camp and sigh I let go of Vanellope stand up and pull out my sword.

I begin walking over when I feel Vanellope grab my arm "Josh you are not going over there" she tells me pulling me back "why not?" "Josh you cant help everyone" "I totally can" "look these people are surviving they'll be fine let's just leave" she says squeezing my arm I look back at the camp and then to the kids and sigh "fine" I say allowing Vanellope to pull me back "the suns going to set soon" one of the kids say "alright people double time" the kid in the front tells us we stand up and begin running "how long until we get to the exit?" Vanellope asks "well we passed fort bannister a while ago so not that far" the kid in the front says speeding up I look around as we pass a couple destroyed houses.

"you know I'm glad I declined Lucas" I tell Vanellope "why?" "I mean this place seems exciting and all but I haven't seen a good tree or animal since I got here" "why do you want animals?" "well I love hunting remember that deer in my game?" I ask she nods and is about to say something when one of the kids yell "brute!" I don't know what he's talking about but I pull out my pistol and let go of Vanellope and spin around to see a gigantic green monster I can see it's veins pressing against its skin I aim at it's head but it lunges forward at me I jump towards Vanellope and grab her and glitch us away.

I look back and see the "brute" grab one of the kids he brings the kid up to his head and bites he pulls back his head ripping the kids head off I cover Vanellopes eyes and run over to a rock I place her back on the rock and look over it "wait here" I tell her as I jump over the rock I aim my pistol at the brute and start firing at it's head but it has some sort of metal helmet on so my pistol isn't doing much I put my pistol back in my holster and pull out my sword.

I jump at it and start slashing away it backs away trying to shoot me but I'm jumping around too much for him to land a shot I spin around as I fly up towards his head and cut him on neck he drops his gun and clasps his hands around his neck "never stop us" he says weakly before falling to the ground and dying I sit down for some reason tired I look back at the kids and see them standing around the decapitated body of their friend I sigh and place my head on my arms and curl up into a ball I begin getting heated up even though the sun is down from my breath I feel some sweat go down my back I hear some one walking up to me but I don't look.

They place their hand on my shoulder and squeeze "Josh are you ok?" she asks I look up and nod "yeah just very tired" I say standing up I walk over to the kids some are kneeling and some are sitting around the body I place my hand on the leaders shoulder he looks up at me gives me a forced smile "thanks for killing that thing" he says I nod and kneel down "look we would understand if you want to go back to lamplight" I tell him "how would you guys get back?" he asks I shrug "you can point us in the right direction" I say standing up I stretch my hand out to him and he grabs it and I help him up.

He shakes my hand and let's go "well were not that far just head under that overpass" he says pointing to a broken overpass I nod and look back to Vanellope I hold my hand out to her and she grabs it "alright thank you guys" I say as I walk to the overpass "if you're ever around come for a visit!" one of the kids yell as we walk away "we will!" I yell back as I wave at them with my free hand we get to the overpass and walk under it "so we can finally leave" Vanellope says as she starts running for the exit dragging me with her we go around the hill and I see the portal to exit the game "hurry up Josh" Vanellope says glitching us to the portal we stop in front of it I look over at Vanellope and she's biting her lip and she won't stop bouncing on her feet I smile and shake my head as I pull her through the portal.

I blink as we enter the portal station the lights seem to have gotten brighter or I'm just losing it I look around and see that the station is still very full of characters Vanellope let's go of my hand and jumps onto my back "okay let's go find stink brain and the others" she says kicking me in side of my torso I sigh and enter the crowd "well the last time I saw Ralph and Felix they were sitting on a bench around here" I say jumping up finally I spot both of them walking in front of some portals I run over and reach them they spot us and run over as well "where the heck were you two?" Ralph asks as he reaches us "we got kidnapped in a game so we had to escape" I tell him as I put Vanellope down he picks us up and brings us up to eye level "Josh are you ok your not looking to good" he says while he narrows his eyes I nod my head and look around I notice Calhoun isn't with them "where's Sarge?" I ask "she went running around looking for you two she told us to wait here in case you got back" Ralph says placing us on his shoulders.

I jump onto his head and look around "so where did she go last?" I ask "she went into that game" Ralph says pointing to a portal on the other side of station I jump off his shoulder and run to the portal I'm about to enter it when I feel Vanellope jump onto my back "alright what's the plan?" she asks I shake my head and take her off my back "no you stay here with Ralph" I tell her nudging her back towards Ralph "what no why?" "well if this game is anything like the last one it will be faster and safer for me and Calhoun to handle it" I tell her as I pick her up and toss her to Ralph he catches her and wraps his fingers around her "okay I'll go get Calhoun" I say as I turn around and enter the portal to another game for hopefully the last time before we get home.


	11. Left 2 survive

I look around and see that I'm on top of a building. I walk to the edge and lean over it. I see smoke coming out of the windows a couple floors down. "I hope Calhoun didn't do that" I say to my self, I look to my right and see a door leading off the roof. To the right of that I see a table with a couple pistols on it and an axe leaning on the side of it. I walk over to the door and open it. Behind the door is a stair well leading down. I enter and walk down the stairs. I reach the floor below. I see a pile up of chairs and desks blocking the next flight of stairs. I sigh and walk to the door to enter the floor I'm on. I open it and cover my nose from the stench that comes out of it.

I see several people slowly walking around some are even limping. "hey have you guys seen a blonde lady in black armor?" I ask. One of the people turn and look at me. well I thought it was a person, their skin is a shade of greenish grey, they have blood around their mouth and their clothes are ripped up. "oh well great" I say to my self. They start running at me screaming. I pull out my pistol and shoot them in the head. The shot attracts the others and they start running at me as well. I keep shooting at them killing many. I'm about to shoot the next one but I'm out of ammo. I remember the pistols up stairs so I slam the door shut and run back up the stairs. I reach the roof and grab all the pistol clips. I place them in my holster.

I hear the door break so I close the one leading onto the roof. I back up and aim my pistol at the door. The "people" start breaking down this door. I prepare for them to smash through it. But before they do I hear more gunfire from the other side. They stop smashing on the door and the gunfire stops. I lower my pistol and walk over to the door. I jump back when it flies open. I aim my pistol back at the door. I see a man with a yellow shirt and a blue and white truckers cap standing there with an assault rifle.

He lowers his gun when he sees me standing there. He looks down the stairs. "see I told y'all another new person showed up" he says placing the barrel of the gun on his shoulder. "well great just what we need another person to look after" I hear another guy say. The guy in the yellow shirt looks back at me. "don't mind him kid my names Ellis" he says walking over to me. He extends his hand. I grab his hand and shake it. "I'm Josh," "well Josh what the heck are you doing here?" "I'm looking for my friend shes blonde has black armour and is carrying around a futuristic assault rifle". He snaps his finger and kneels down next to me. "so your that kid she was looking for" he says placing his elbows on his knees.

"Oh great so she's here then?" I ask. He nods and stands back up. "yeah she came barrelling through here yelling your name," "okay so where did she go?" "she left the building and went running through the city" I run over to the edge of the building and jump onto it. I place my thumb sideways on my forehead to shield my eyes from the sun. I scan the city for Calhoun but she's no where to be seen. I sigh and hop off the ledge. "this place is huge she can be anywhere" I say walking over to the door. "aw cheer up buddy we'll help you look" Ellis says patting me on the head. The door opens. A lady wearing a pink shirt and blue jeans walks onto the roof. "Ellis what is going on?" she asks.

He gestures down to me "kids looking for his friend" he tells her. she kneels down next to me. "aw don't worry sweetie we'll find them" she says it like shes talking to a baby. I sigh and cross my arms. "okay I get it I look like a kid but trust me I'm far from it I've killed dozens of people I'm married for christ's sake!" I say showing them my ring. "you've killed people?" she asks standing up. "they tried killing me first" I tell her uncrossing my arms. "okay then" she says walking back to the door. I look up at Ellis and he's rubbing the back of his head. "yeah kid you might want to keep the killing people thing to your self" he says. I nod "yeah your probably right" I say walking to the door. "okay well let's go find your friend I guess" Ellis says following me. we walk down the stair well and enter the floor below. I see the lady in pink leaning on a wall, a guy in a white suit pacing up and down the hallway and a large man in a purple and yellow shirt with light brown pants leaning on the window sill looking at the city.

The man in the white suit spots us and walks over. "is this the guy that was on the roof?" he asks. Ellis nods and stops walking. "he's the guy that blonde lady was looking for" Ellis tells him. "well great so we have to help him find her" the man says crossing his arms. "you don't have to" I say. "but we are going to" Ellis says crossing his arms as well. The man in the white suit sighs and kneels down next to me. "alright kid my names nick" he says as he reaches out to shake my hand. I shake his hand.

"'my names Josh" I tell him. I look around him to the other two. The one on the window sill stands up straight and walks over to me. "you can call me coach" he says. I nod "alright coach" I look over at the pink shirt lady. "my names Rochelle" "okay so Ellis, Rochelle,Nick and coach it's good to meet you all" I say smiling. "okay now that we got the pleasantries out of the way can we go find this chick" Nick says turning around and walking down the hall. I look up at Ellis and he begins following Nick. so I do the same. We get to the end of the hallway and turn left. I see an open elevator door. I watch as the others walk in. Ellis turns to face me "come on kid" he says waving his hand towards him. I look back at the stair well to the roof then back at Ellis.

He waves again. "we don't got all day squirt" I hear Nick say. I sigh as I make my way to the elevator, I enter the elevator and turn around to face forward. Ellis presses the button for the bottom floor. The doors slide shut and the elevator starts moving down. The closer to the bottom floor we get the more intense the heat becomes. I wipe my forehead with my arm. "that fire sure is hot" Ellis says. My vision becomes blurry and I feel like I'm going to throw up again, I grasp my stomach and keel over. Ellis kneels down and places a hand on my back. "geez kid are ya alright?" he asks. I nod my head as I stand up, "I'm fine just a little tired" I tell him. He gives me a disbelieving look and shakes his head. "alright what ever you say" he says standing up. I swallow the little bit of vomit that almost escaped my mouth and shudder. "that's nasty" I say to my self.

I stand back up and wipe my mouth with a shaking hand. "okay were almost to the bottom floor" Ellis says cocking his rifle, the elevator stops but the door doesn't open. I wait, "why isn't the door opening?" I ask. Ellis shrugs. "doors probably stuck" he tells me. I sigh. "okay so we have to pry it open than?" I ask. Ellis nods again and steps towards the doors. He places his fingers in between the doors and starts pulling, he grunts as the doors slowly open up. The doors are opened enough for me to squeeze through so I wiggle my way through. I get through the doors and almost fall into some fire. Some one grabs my collar and pulls me back. "careful buddy" I hear Ellis say, I look up at him and give him a weak smile, "thanks" I say as I stand up straight and brush my self off, Ellis nods and walks to the left. "well we oughta get outta here" he says gesturing for me to follow him down the burning hallway, I shake my head "you're kidding right?" I ask as I cross my arms, he turns around and shakes his head "the way outs this way" he says pointing with his thumb down the hallway. I sigh and follow him down it. Along the way to the exit we run into a couple of the, what Ellis calls "zombies".

Fortunately they seem to handle the zombies easily killing them quickly, so I'm not having to put in a lot of effort, we make our way through a burning kitchen but when we get to the other side we are greeted with a room full of zombies. Ellis, Nick, Coach and Rochelle take them out with ease. We walk through the room and towards a large metallic red door with a bar going across the front it. Ellis run up to it and removes the bar. He opens it and starts waving us in, "come on people get in here" he yells at us.

We run over and enter the room. Ellis closes the door behind us. I look around the room and see some guns and first aid kits on it. I walk over and take a look at them, "well these ain't exactly top notch but they'll do" Ellis says as he picks up a shotgun, "so where do you think my friend is?" I ask everyone. "she could be any where" Nick tells me, I frown and look out the door to the outside, "don't worry kid we'll find her" Ellis says walking up next to me, I nod my head and walk up to the door. I get ready to open it, but before I do I look back at the others, to make sure they're ready.

They look back at me, Ellis nods his head, I take the bar off the door and kick it open. A group of zombies immediately spots us and charges. I pull out my pistol and try shooting, forgetting that I didn't reload when I was on the roof, I sigh and push the button to release the clip. The clip falls to the ground and I put another one in. I aim again but I see that Ellis and the others have already killed the zombies, "wow that was fast" I say as I put my pistol back in my holster. "yeah we got pretty good at killing those things" Ellis tells me while he reloads his gun. I smile and start walking down the pathway to the road. I see a dark green tent at the end of the pathway, I pull out my pistol and aim it at the entrance of the tent. I slow my pace and steady my aim as I near the tent, "hello is anyone in there?" I ask. There's no response so I stop walking and holster my pistol. "anyone in there pip squeak?" I hear coach ask. I shake my head. "I don't think so" I tell him. I start walking to the tent again.

I stop at the entrance, I peek inside and turn my head to look around. I see a grey skinned person with long white hair curled up in the corner, I hear her crying, I walk up to her and kneel down next to her. "hey lady are you okay?" I ask. I hear her start growling so I back up a bit. Her growling gets louder and she starts sitting up. I back out the opening of the tent and stop outside. "what's in their?" Ellis asks me. "I have no idea" I tell him. He walks over to the entrance and looks in. He quickly backs out and turns around. "witch" he tells us as he walks away. I tilt my head and "what's a witch?" "just know that she's something you don't want to mess with" Nick tells me.

I look back at the tent entrance and back to the others. I shrug and follow Ellis. He leads us down the road and to a door on the side of a building. He puts his left hand up signalling for us to stop. He slowly opens the door and peers inside. He looks back at us and nods. He walks through the door and into the building. The rest of us follow him in. "so how big is your game exactly?" I ask. "pretty big but it shouldn't take too long to find your friend" Rochelle tells me. I sigh. "well I'm not to sure about that" I tell her. "why not?". "well it's never really that simple with my friends" I tell her. "well don't worry she'll turn up eventually" she tells me. We walk through the small cement room to a set of stairs on the other side.

I look down the stairs. I see a couple zombies wandering around. Before I get to do anything Ellis and the others are running down the stairs shooting them. I smile and shake my head. "you know you guys are alright" I tell them. Ellis looks up at me and gives me a thumbs up. I run down the stairs as they open the door to the street. They aim their guns as they slowly walk out. I shortly follow. I pull out my pistol and begin aiming. So far it looks like the coast is clear. We walk down the street under an overpass and a couple broken down cars.

We get off the street and hop over the metal divider. We continue walking through some bushes how ever on the other side of the bushes is a group of zombies waiting for their next meal. Which unfortunately could be us. The zombies spot us and run over. We begin firing taking down the zombies, at first we were doing fine until I see Nick get grabbed by something long, he gets yanked back into the bushes. I run in after him. I spot him struggling. He's being restrained by a skinny zombie with a bulging neck.

I'm not sure what it is exactly but there is some sort of gas leaking from this zombie, "shoot it!" Nick orders. I aim at the zombies head and fire. It falls down, letting go of Nick in the process, Nick brushes him self off. He looks at me and nods. "thanks squirt" he says while he picks up his gun. "no problem" I say as I turn and walk back to the others. I get out of the bushes and see the others reloading. Bodies scattered around them, a pool of blood forming and an over whelming stench that doesn't seem to go away.

I pinch my nose shut. "how can you guys stand that smell?" Ellis shrugs "kinda just got use to it" he tells me. I shake my head. I look around and see a garbage can on the other side of the road. Ellis points to it and walks over. "alright people over this thing" he tells us. We climb over and jump down on the other side. I look to my left and see a sign with the words "ceda evac" on it.

"who is ceda?" I ask. "oh some sort of government unit that was supposed to be helping us" Ellis tells me. Ellis leads us to a building on the side of the over pass with some stairs leading up to it. We walk up the stairs and head over to the door that's there. Ellis goes to open the door but it gets blow open, Ellis gets knocked back by the blast and falls to the ground. I pull him away as a couple bullets fly out of the door. I look up at the door and see a couple zombies fall out of the doorway. I hear someone grunting and I see Calhoun fly out of the door. I glitch over to where shes going to hit the ground and catch her. Well try and catch her but really I just softened her landing.

She stands up right away and picks me up and puts my stomach on her shoulder. "come on soldier we are leaving" she tells me. I look back at the doorway and see a gigantic, well I don't really know what it is, I watch as Ellis and the others shoot at it. "go on kid we got this" Ellis says as he's shooting the gigantic beast. Calhoun turns back towards the giant garbage can and starts running, "oh your not really going to let those guys fight that thing alone are you?" "yes I am they we have to get back to the others" she tells me. I roll my eyes and sigh. I look back at the others. "thank you!" I yell. "any time kid" Ellis yells back.

Me and Calhoun make it back to the burning building and run inside. We run through the bottom floor and make it to the elevator. Calhoun runs into the elevator and presses the button for the top floor. The elevator doesn't move. I hear Calhoun sigh. "looks like we have to take the stairs" she tells me. I shake my head. "that would take too long lets do it my way". I grab her arm tightly and start glitching up. In no time we have made it to the top floor. We run up the last bit of stairs to the roof. We run onto the roof and stop outside the portal. "alright lets get out of here" Calhoun says walking into the portal. I look back at the city. Then back to the portal. I walk into the portal. Every time I enter this place the lights get brighter, Giving me a massive head ache. I blink rapidly and look around for Vanellope and the others. I spot them sitting on a bench not too far from me. I smile and walk over. Vanellope spots me and jumps up. "great now we can go home!" Vanellope says. I nod. Vanellope grabs my hand and pulls me to the exit.


	12. Programming malfunctions

We reach the door back to the Internet. Vanellope opens it and jumps in pulling me with her. We fly through the glowing tunnel once again. As were making our way through I catch something in the corner of my eye. I look over at it and it resembles a worm made entirely out of coding, except the coding is red. I squint my eyes to get a better look at it. Suddenly it starts flying towards me and Vanellope. I pull Vanellope towards me and put her behind my back. "what's the matter Josh?" "I don't know but I don't trust that thing" I tell her as it gains on us. "hey kid what is that thing?" Calhoun asks me. I shrug. "I have no idea" I tell her. It starts speeding up. It gets closer I turn around and push Vanellope down the tunnel. That's when I feel a sharp pain in my back.

I arch my back forward and clench my teeth. I look down and see that I have started glitching except not my normal glitching, this glitching is red and every where it goes a killer pain is felt a moment later. Soon it becomes unbearable, my eye sight has become blurry from tears, It feels like my teeth are going to crack, I clutch my head and squeeze as if it's going to explode. I hear Vanellope scream my name but I can't respond. I close my eyes when I feel some one grab my arm. They start pulling me. I try to open my eyes but with no success. the last thing I feel is my body hitting solid ground then I black out.

I wake up on the cold ground when I hear some one yelling "Josh come on wake up!" I hear some one yell. I groan. My bodies so sore I can't even open my eyes. "what do we do?" I hear some one say "we need a doctor or something" "we can take him to Hero's duty" "no we need some super genius doctor" "well what about dr eggman?" "yeah yeah he will work let's go find him" from the sound of it and the fact it feels like I'm bouncing. they're running me some where taking me with them. I try and open my eyes again but still can't. I start drifting off again. I try and force my self to stay awake but to no avail, I end up blacking out again.

I wake up and hear them talking again. "whats wrong with him?" "I don't know I'm going to have to run some tests" "well how long will it take?" that voice is pleading and saddened, it gives me a knot in my stomach. "I can't say exactly, it really depends on how bad the virus is" "virus?! Can you help him?" "I told you I need to run some tests" "well run the darn tests then!" she yells. "Vanellope you need to calm down and let eggman do his thing" "I will once he helps Josh!" she yells. "just let me grab my equipment" I hear some rustling and some shuffling. I feel something pressed against my head. Next thing I feel is a little shock around my body, it ends and I hear some beeping and something gets poked into my arm making me twitch.

I turn my head to the side and groan. "Josh are you ok?" I clench my teeth together. I try to sit up but some one places there hand on my shoulder. They gently pushes me onto my back again. "you need to stay still" he tells me. I nod my head and lay my head back down. "the results will take a while just try and get some sleep" he says. I keep my eyes closed but I can't sleep.

I don't know how long I lie there but finally the machine he hooked up to me is removed, "alright sit up" he orders I sit up and open my eyes. "where am I?" I ask "your in eggmans base" a guy in brown overalls and a red shirt tells me. I place my hand on my head and shake it. "why am I here?" "well something attacked you in the internet tunnel" a small girl with a green hood and black hair tells me "what the hell is an Internet?" I ask.

I see them all look at each other and then back to me. "you know the Internet, the thing we spent three days on" a lady with blonde hair and black armor tells me. I shake my head again. "you know I have no idea what you are talking about" I tell them. The girl with the black hair walks up in front of me and places her hands on my arms. "Josh are you ok?" she asks. I shake my head and jump off the bed I was on. "look I'm sorry but I'm not Josh, I'm well..." I think for a moment. "you know I don't have a name now that I think about it" I tell her shrugging. She squeezes my arms. "no your name is Josh. Josh butterscotch" she tells me. I shake my head. I poke her with my finger and gently push her away.

I step around her and walk towards the door. A tall round man stops me with his hand. "Josh I think the virus is messing with your memory" he tells me. I push his hand away and continue walking to the door. I open it and stop. "I feel fine" I tell them. I close the door behind me and walk down the pathway. "great now I'm going to have to find the exit" I make it down the pathway and spot the exit. I smile and start walking faster. I make it to the exit. Im about to walk out when I see a blue flash. I jump back and pull out my sword. But I see that it's just the black haired girl again.

I sigh and sheathe my sword. "Josh what's wrong with you?" she asks. "I'm sorry I'm not Josh I don't even have a name" I tell her. I walk around her and into the tunnel. She flashes in front of me again and places her hands on my chest pushing me back. "Josh you have to go back to dr eggman" she orders. I jump and flip over her. I land on the other side and continue walking down the tunnel. I make it through the rest of the tunnel with out any interruptions. I exit the tunnel and look around for my game but I can't spot it. I try and walk into the crowd when I get picked up by some one, I turn my head to see who picked me up. I see that it was the gigantic guy with the brown overalls, he wraps his fingers around me and turns back towards the tunnel. "hey let go of me gigantor" I order. He shakes his head and keeps walking down the tunnel.

"I swear if you don't let go of me I'll go all path of the warrior on your butt" I tell him. He shakes his head again and continues down the tunnel. I sigh and give up trying to escape. "what do you want with me?" I ask him. "we need dr eggman to finish the tests" he tells me. "what tests?" "to find out what's wrong with you" "dude look at me I feel fine" I look down and see that I'm no longer wearing my ninja outfit. It has been replaced with colorful clothing. I narrow my eyes and pull at the jacket that's tied around my waist. "okay where are my clothes?" "what do you mean you're wearing them" "no my regular clothes my ninja outfit" "I think you left that at the castle" "what no I don't live with king Abbas" I tell him.

He shakes his head again. "no at sugar rush" "sugar rush? Never hear of it" I tell him as I cross my arms. "well you should have that's where you live" I blink a couple times. "what no I live in a tree house" "no you did live in a tree house" "what do you mean? Did you guys kidnap me?" he stops walking. "what no we would never" he tells me. I look down at his hand. "well what would you call this?" "giving you a nudge in the right direction" he says as he starts walking again. I sigh and look towards the end of the tunnel. I see the black haired girl waiting for us there. "so who's the chick?" I ask "what do you mean? That's Vanellope" he tells me. I place my elbows on his arms and my head in my hands. I watch as she runs over to us and jumps onto the big guys shoulder.

"so how far did he get?" she asks. "just to the end of the tunnel" he tells her. I shake my head and wait for him to let go of me but he doesn't. We get back to the place I woke up in and walk in. The big guy brings me over to the couch and puts me down. Before I get to run the tall round guy pokes a needle in my arm. I look at my arm and back to him. "what was that supposed to do?" I ask him. He doesn't need to answer. My eye lids become heavy and begin closing, I feel my tongue slip out of my mouth and my body go numb. I fall down onto the couch and begin falling asleep. "sorry Josh" I hear the girl say "oh you are just the worst" I say weakly before falling asleep.

I wake up again, but I don't know when. I try and sit up but cant. I turn my head and look around. I'm still on the couch I notice I'm restrained by some mechanical arms. "oh come on are the restraints really necessary?" I ask any one that can hear me. "no. Unless you plan on running again" I hear someone say. I turn my head towards the voice and see the tall round guy again.

"okay so why am I restrained?" "your friends wanted to, well the blonde one" he tells me. I shake my head. "they are not my friends I have never seen those people in my entire life" I tell him.

He shakes his head. "oh but I believe that you have" "why?" "after the test results came in I discovered that there are several things messing around with your programming" he tells me as he stands up. "how so?" "well first there is the radiation poisoning that is slowly eating away at you, second is the virus that has made it's way into your coding and is well not destroying it exactly but..." he trails off for a second. "actually yes it is destroying you but very slowly" he tells me. "what are you talking about? I feel fine" I tell him. He clasps his hands together. He is about to speak when the door opens. I see the black haired girl walk in again. I don't know why but I smile. I shake my head and go back to my expressionless face. "Josh are you ok yet?" "well I'm ok yes but I don't know why you keep calling me Josh" "because that's your name" she says as she walks over to me.

I shake my head again. "look I don't have a name the programmers never gave me one" I tell her. She nods her head. "I know that's why we gave you a name!" "so you guys just named me?" "no you gave your self that name" she tells me. I sigh. "I did no such thing" "yes you gave your self the name Josh butterscotch I just helped you change the code" she looks around the couch and presses a button she finds. The arms release me and I sit up and rub my arm which is still numb.

I slide off the couch and onto the ground and immediately head for the door. "where are you going?" the girl asks me. "home" I say as I open the door and walk out. "Josh we have to help you" she yells as I walk down the path. "I don't need help just worry about your self" I yell back. Theres another blue flash and the girl following it. I sigh and stop walking. "Josh just go back to dr eggman" she orders. I shake my head. "no can do" I tell her as I cross my arms "why not?" "I need to get back to my game before it gets put out of order" I tell her. I begin walking again and head for the exit. She runs up next to me and follows me. "what?" I ask her. "well if you won't listen to me I'll just watch as you find out your self" she says. I roll my eyes and place my hands in the pockets of the chocolate brown pants. "okay I have to admit I like these clothes" I tell the girl as we near the tunnel.

We enter game central station and I walk over to the entrance of my game. I look up and see that the name is no longer there. I squint to get a better look at the name. "laptop?" "yes laptop, your game isnt here anymore it got unplugged" the girl tells me. I gasp. "what how is that possible? We just got plugged in" she tilts her head. "what do you mean you were plugged in for ten years then you got unplugged" I shake my head. "no no we just got pluged in" I tell her again. She grabs my arm and start dragging me back to the game we just left. "Josh lets go back to dr eggman now" I pull my arm to get out of her grip.

"I'm sorry but I have to find out what happened to my game" "I just told you it got unplugged four months ago" "four months?! What have I been doing this whole time?" "you've been living in sugar rush, with me" she says grabbing my arm again. I pull my arm away again. "okay. Don't get me wrong, your'e cute and all but I don't even know your name" "Vanellope, my name is Vanellope. Your name is Josh. Josh Butterscotch" I shake my head. "no I don't feel like a Josh. I feel like a Dave." She bites her lip. "just follow me" she orders. I look back at the use to be entrance of my game then back at Vanellope. I sigh. "okay fine but I'm not going back to that eggman guy" I tell her. She nods and pulls me to a diffrent entrance.

I read the name above it. "sugar rush" I shrug. Doesn't sound too bad. Vanellope pulls me through the tunnel we near the exit and I can smell something, it smells delicous. My mouth begins to water. I didn't realize how hungry I was. We make it to the end of tunnel and exit it. "wow your game looks awesome" she squeezes my hand. "our game" she tells me. I shake my head and look around. "so im guessing thats where you live?" I point to the castle. She squeezes my hand again harder. "where we live" she says. "I don't know this doesn't exactly look like the kind of place I would live" "why not?" "the bright light seems to be giving me a massive head ache for starters" I tell her.

She rolls her eyes and speeds up towards the pink castle. We enter the catle and she brings me to the right. We enter what looks like the throne room. I see the big guy that kidnapped me, the blonde lady that had me restrained, a small guy wearing a blue shirt and hat and a new guy that kind of reminds me of the blonde chick. They see us run in and stand up. "how is he doing?" the big guy asks. "he still doesn't know who we are. And he thinks that his game was just plugged in today" she tells him.

I try and say something but a searing pain shoots through me. My knees start giving out but I stay standing. I look at my body and can see my coding. "why is he red?" the big guy asks. Vanellope grabs onto my shoulders and begins shaking me. "come on snap out of it" she tells me. "I would if i knew what it was" "your glitching. Just focus" she tells me. I close my eyes "stop" I tell my self. The pain goes away. I open my eyes and see that my coding is no longer visible. I smile but I fell tired. I grab my stomach. "oh I think I'm going to be sick" I say.

"well just hold it in for a second" Vanellope says while she pulls me up by my arm. She brings me down the hallway and into a room at the end of it. She opens the door and pulls me in. "alright into the bathroom" she orders I look around and spot the only other door in here. I walk over to it and open it sure enough theres the bathroom. I run to the toilet and begin throwing up. "are you okay?" Vanellope asks. I try to respond but I feel more puke coming up. Vanelope walks in and places a hand on my back. Finally after a couple minutes I stop puking. I wipe my mouth with my arm and walk over to the sink.

I turn it on and place my head under the tap. I drink some water and spit out to rinse my mouth. "are you alright?" she asks. I nod my head. "well lets go see the others then" she says grabbing my arm and pulling me out of the bathroom. We enter the throne room and the people are talking to eachother. They see us and stand up. "okay so we've been talking and we might have a plan to get Josh's memory back" the blonde lady says "well what is it?" "remember how 643 made Josh relive his memories on the roof?" blondie asks. Vanellope nods. "well we were thinking that he could do it again, or at least try" "will it work?" "we have no idea" "well we have to try" "we will" the blonde guy says walking over to me. He kneels down in front of me and places his hands on my head. "alright Josh let's see if this will work"


	13. First impressions

He presses his thumbs against my forehead. Suddenly a blue line of coding appears from his head. It goes down to his shoulder and makes its way down his arm towards me. As soon as it enters my head I black out. I look around. "okay so let's see what we can find" I hear the blonde guy say again. Some blank squares start flying around me, "strange your memories were supposed to be in those" he tells me. I shrug. "what the hell is that?" he asks. I look around and see some red coding flying around me. It's length becomes greater as it circles me. It Surrounds me and latches onto it's self. It starts expanding, suffocating me. I start hyperventilating. My eyes shoot open and I'm back in the castle, breathing heavily. "are you ok?" Vanellope asks. I jump onto my feet and head for the exit.

"where are you going?" Vanellope asks. "I'm leaving" I hear them start following me. I sigh and speed up. "come on Josh wait up!" I hear Vanellope yell. I shake my head and break into a sprint. I make it out of the castle when someone jumps on my back knocking me into the ground. I scramble back up to my feet. I push the blonde guy away and keep running. "do you think he knows he can glitch?" I hear one of them yell as they chase me. I think for a moment glitch, that must be what Vanellope was doing. I close my eyes as I'm running. I stop running and turn around to face the people. I pull out my sword and spin it around.

They stop a couple feet from me. "come on Josh you don't want to do this" the big guy says lifting his hands up. "no you guys don't want to do this" I tell them. The blonde guy cracks his knuckles and steps up to me. "come on Josh, me and you, no weapons" he says taking a fighting a stance. I spin my sword backwards and stab it into the ground. I take my fighting stance. "alright if that's you how you want it" I tell him as I smirk. He spins around and jump in the air towards me. I duck and dodge his oncoming foot. I grab the bottom of his leg and jump up over him pulling his leg with me. He flips over and lands on his stomach. He shakes his head and jumps back onto his feet.

I start bouncing from one foot to the other. I beckon him over with my hand. He walks up and throws a fist at me. I push it away with ease, then jump up and over him. I'm above him when he reaches up and grabs my leg. He pulls me down towards the ground. I spin grab his arm and flip him over me. He lands on his back and let's out a grunt. I shake my head and pick up my sword, I sheathe it. "I'm from a fighting game you know" I tell him. He sits up and rubs the back of his head. "yeah I know, path of the warrior" he says standing up. "so why try and fight me?" I ask him.

"to stop you from leaving" he tells me. "yeah well good luck with that" I tell him as I walk towards the exit again. I get picked up by the back of my collar and pulled into the air. "hey do you want some to?" I ask the big guy. He shakes his head "no I'm not going to fight you kid" he tells me. "why not afraid your going to lose?" "yes yes I am" he tells me. "well put me down then" I order. He shakes his head again. "no we need to find out what's wrong with you" he tells me. "nothings wrong with me stink brain!" I yell. For some reason he smiles. "yes exactly I'm a stink brain" he says wrapping his fingers around me. I narrow my eyes.

"what is wrong with you?" I ask. "nothings wrong with me" he says. "well why did you smile when I called you stink brain?" "because that's what Vanellope always called me" he tells me. "yeah so what?" "it means some where in your brain are your memories, we just have to get them out!" he tells me excitedly. I sigh and start squirming around, trying to get out of his grip. Finally he let's go of me. I fall to the ground and land on my feet. I brush my self off. "okay you guys really seem like an interesting bunch and all but your not my type of crowd" I tell them as I walk towards the exit again.

Vanellope glitches in front of me and tries to stop me. I easily leap frog over her and continue walking. "what do you mean were not you type of crowd?" I hear Vanellope ask. I stop, turn around and walk back to them. "first I get held against my will in a mad scientists base, home what ever that place was, second I get restrained in said place again against my will. You know, you guys are horrible at first impressions" I tell them. I turn around and start walking again. "all that was not a first impression you've known us for months now" Vanellope tells me. "well if I have lost my memory, which i haven't, then it was a first impression" I say with a smirk.

They all look at each other and huddle together. I cross my arms. "what are you...?" I don't get to ask anything because Vanellope shushes me. I roll my eyes and start tapping my foot. They finally break apart and look back at me. "okay your right we do suck at first impressions" the big guy says "yes, yes you guys do" I tell them. "so we want to try again" the small blue guy tells me. I tilt my head and narrow my eyes. "what do you mean?" I ask confused. Vanellope steps forward towards me. "we want to make better first impressions" she tells me. I take a step back. "you want to try again?" I ask. Vanellope nods quickly. I look at them and they're all in agreement.

I hesitate. "ehh I don't know" I say. "come on it'll be fun" Vanellope tells me. I think for a couple seconds. "ugh fine" I say while uncrossing my arms. "yay! Alright who's first?" Vanellope asks as she turns to face the others. They look amongst each other. After a moment the big guy steps forward. "I'll go first" he says. I shrug. "okay so what are you going to do with him?" Vanellope asks. "well if he lost his memories he must have forgotten how to drive" he says walking over to me. He looks down at me. "do you know how to drive?" he asks. I shake my head. "no I do not" I tell him. He puts the back of his hand on the ground and gestures for me to jump on. I think for a second, then jump on.

He brings me up to his shoulder and places me on it. "well I'm going to teach him how to drive again" he tells the others. "his kart is in the garage" Vanellope tells him. He nods and walks towards the castle. "you know I never did get your name" I tell him "Ralph, my name is Ralph." "well Ralph it's nice to meet you I'm..." "Josh, your name is Josh." "okay what ever you say Ralph" he rolls his eyes. We each the castle but walk past the front doors. He walks around the corner. I see a large red and white striped door. He reaches to a handle on the bottom of it and pulls up. It opens and a light turns on behind it. I cover my eyes from the bright light until they adjust. I blink and look into the garage.

My jaw drops when I see an orange kart with a white stripe going down the middle of it. A slightly arched spoiler. A smile spreads across my face. "is that mine?" I ask. He nods and takes me off his shoulder, he places me on the ground. I run over to it. I jump in and start pressing buttons, flipping switches and pulling levers. I press a big green button and the kart roars to life. Ralph steps behind the kart and pushes it out of the garage. He pushes me over to a dirt road and onto the top of a black and white checkered starting line. "alright kid now for the basics, do you see these pedals?" I nod."okay this one is the accelerator, then the brakes and lastly the clutch" I nod as he talks, teaches me how to drive. "okay put your goggles on and take us for a lap around sugar rush" he orders.

I nod and place the goggles over my eyes. I press down on the accelerator as hard as I can. We fly off the starting line and down the road. I drift through the first turn. I over shoot it because of Ralph's extra weight I didn't account for, and head straight for a small lake. I shut my mouth and pinch my nose closed right before me and Ralph fall in. I don't have to close my eyes, I don't have to thanks to my goggles. I'm not sure what happened to Ralph. I feel someone grab the back of my collar and pull me out of sticky lake. I cough up some of the stuff and lie down on my back. "Josh what the heck happened to you?" I hear someone ask. I wipe the stuff off my goggles and look up.

I see a short blonde girl wearing all pink standing above me. "hey are you ok?" she asks. I nod my head and sit up. "yeah I'm fine" I tell her. I stand up and scrape the goo off of me. I look back a the lake and see my kart disappear under the goo. A second later a flash blinds me I blink and look at where it came from. I see my kart in perfect condition set down before me. I smile and shake my head. "this damn game is amazing" I say. I jump into my kart and start it up again. Out of the corner of my eye I see something shoot out of the goo. I look over and see an arm. A second later I see Ralph's head pop out. He gasps and pulls him self over to the edge of the lake. "what the happened to you guys?" she asks. I shrug. "Ralph made us crash" I tell her. "Ralph why would you do that?" she asks him. He wipes some of the goo from his face.

"I didn't do it on purpose" he says sitting up. I laugh and rev the engine of my kart. "come on dude we still have to drive around the game" I tell Ralph. He nods and shakes some of the goo off, some of it lands on my kart. I don't know why but I wipe the goo with my finger and luck it off. "wow this is delicious" I say wiping some more off the kart. "sheesh it's like you've never had taffy before" the blonde girl says as she leans on my kart. "he has he just can't remember" Ralph tells her. She gives me a questioning look. "what does he mean you can't remember?" I shrug. "according to him I lost my memory. I don't know though I feel fine blondie," I tell her. "taffyta" "bless you" I say. She narrows her eyes. "no my name is Taffyta" she says.

"oh sorry. Taffyta" I say rubbing the back of my head. "yeah, anyways I'll catch you later Josh" she hugs me and walks away. I watch as she bounces away. I must have zoned out because I feel a tap on my shoulder. I look up at Ralph and he raises an eyebrow. I shrug and hit the accelerator. We zoom down the track. I have a tiny idea about what I'm doing. Turning at the right moments, slowing down and speeding up when I need to. It's a little more difficult with Ralph sitting on the spoiler but I manage to make it to the giant cake. I round the cake as fast as I can with out falling off the cake. I'm right on the edge just mere inches from the cherries. "you should drive further from away from the edge" Ralph tells me.

I shake my head. "don't worry dude I got this" I tell him as I near the top. I make it to the tube and speed up. "okay Ralph hold on" I tell him. I reach the end of the tube and shoot out of it. We fly through the air. I look around at the game and smile. The rainbow colors, mouth watering smell is all just amazing. We land on the ramp and I screech to a stop. Ralph flies off the back of the kart and rolls down the ramp. I jump out of the kart and run to the top of the ramp. I jump, flip and land on my feet at the top of the ramp. I stretch my arms out and take in a deep breath. I smile and cross my arms. "what was that all about kid?" Ralph asks me. "so is this really where I live?" I ask him. He walks up next to me and sits down.

"yeah you live in the castle" "this place is amazing" I tell him. He nods. "so it's true? I lost all my memories?" "yeah. Sorry Josh but it is" he tells me. I sigh. "Josh, it just doesn't feel right" I tell him. "why not?" he asks. I shrug. "I don't know it just doesn't" I turn around and jump back into my kart. "well want to head back now?" I ask. He jumps onto the back. "okay let's go" he says. So I hit the accelerator and speed down the track and make my way through sugar rush. We finally get back to the castle. I see the others sitting around, waiting for us to get back I'm guessing. I spin my kart around and stop right next to all of them. "great you learned how to drive again!" Vanellope says jumping up.

I nod and get out of my kart. "yeah I sure did Ralph's a good teacher" I tell her as I pat my kart. She nods. "I know he taught me too" she tells me. "okay I guess I'm up" the blonde lady says standing up. I scrunch my face up and lean closer to Vanellope. "she's not going to hit me or anything right?" I ask her. "as long as you don't make her angry" she tells me. I nod. "okay so what are we going to do lady?" I ask her. "that's sergeant to you private" she tells me crossing her arms. I roll my eyes. "okay what are we doing Sarge?" I ask. She pulls a gun off her back and cocks it. "we are going to the shooting range" she tells me. "okay where?" "my game" she tells me. I nod. "so how are we going to get there?" I ask.

"we are going to fly" she tells me. "fly, how?" Sarge looks down at Vanellope. "so wheres Stephen?" Vanellope shrugs. "he could be any where" "well can we call him or something?" Sarge asks. Vanellope nods. "yeah we just need some cookies" she tells Sarge as she starts running to the castle. She glitches back out a few moments later with a jar of cookies. She pulls one out and starts waving it around. "Stephen come and get it!" she yells. I look up at Ralph "who's Stephen?" "your pet cybug" he tells me. Vanellope throws the cookie in the air and something black and silver comes out of no where and catches it. It lands on the ground and puts its wings away. "is that Stephen?" I ask walking up to him.

"yeah he is" Vanellope tells me. I smile and start scratching the side of his head petting him. He rubs it head on my torso as I pet him. "you see he knows how to make a first impression" I tell the others. Ralph rolls his eyes and crosses his arms. "okay we get it, just go shoot some stuff" Ralph tells us. Sarge jumps onto Stephen and gestures for me to do the same. I jump onto his neck and grab onto the reins. "are you sure you can pilot this bug?" Sarge asks me. I shrug. "how different from a horse could it be" I say. I whip the reins and Stephen flies up into the air. I pull to the left and make him turn towards the exit. We fly through the tunnel quickly and with ease.

"so where is your game?" "out the tunnel and three games to the right" she tells me. We make it out of the tunnel. I yank the rein to the right and we turn right. I fly past the games and turn into sarges game. We fly down the tunnel, past a train and enter her game. She takes over flying Stephen and we get to a building very quickly. We land next to a cement building, jump off of Stephen and enter. I follow her through the halls. She leads us to a door with "shooting range" written on it. She punches in a code and the door slides open revealing the shooting range. "alright kid lets get shooting" sarge orders. I nod my head and walk over to the cubes. "okay do you remember how the gun works?" I shake my head.

"no idea" she rolls her eyes and pulls out her pistol. She teaches my how it works. How to reload, cock it things like that. Once I get an idea about what to do I take aim at the target. I fire but hit no where near the target. I frown and fire again. Once again I miss the target. Sarge orders me to keep firing so I do, but with little to no improvement. I put the pistol down and sigh. "I don't think this is my type of thing" I tell her. She shakes her head. "come on private you were a natural at this" "no Josh was a natural at this" I correct her. She frowns and kneels down to my eye level. "you are Josh" she tells me. I shake my head and take the holster off my waist. "no Josh is gone. I'm not josh" I hand her the holster and walk out of the shooting range.

I exit the building and mount Stephen. "hey private wait!" I hear sarge yell. I sigh and let go of the reins. She jumps on behind me. I look at her. "can I go now?" I ask. She nods and gets a grip onto Stephen. I whip the reins and Stephen flies into the air. I fly him back to sugar rush. We land out side the castle and sarge jumps off. The front doors open up and I see Vanellope run out with the others following. "well that was fast" Ralph says walking up next to Stephen. I rub the back of my head and give him a weak smile. "yeah the shooting range really wasn't my thing" "really? Well that's too bad" he says. I nod my head and jump off of Stephen. "okay well I'm up next" the blonde guy tells me. He steps forward and extends his hand. I grab it and shake it. "my names 643" "well nice to meet you 643" I let go of his hand and take a step back. He crosses his arms. "so are you ready?" "for what?" I ask. He bends over and grabs my shoulders, he starts shaking me. "for the greatest time of your life" he tells me. I smile and nod my head. He does the same and stands up straight. "alright let us be off" he jumps onto Stephen and gestures for me to follow. So I jump on as well. He whips the reins and Stephen flies up. "so where are we going?" I ask him. "tappers" he tells me.


	14. Meet Dave

We fly into game central station. He heads for tappers. (I'm still not sure if I can trust these people. But what choice do I have?). He stops abruptly. Making me smash into his fully armored back.

"Oh crap. Sorry Josh, what happened?". "just got distracted".

I rub my forehead gently.

"Well let's go". "I don't know about this. I should really find out what happened to my game.". "Okay. No. We promised Vanellope we would try and help you get your memory back."

I slide off Stephen's neck and land on the ground. "I know you guys are trying to help. But I feel fine. So if you don't mind, I will be returning to that plug in over there, to find out what happened to my game."

I turn around and start walking to the "laptop". (I hope he doesn't follow me, or get his friends or my friends. No they were Josh's friends. I'm not Josh. At least I don't think I'm Josh).

"Come on Josh, don't do this" "Just go back to your friends!".

I pick up my pace. (Josh? Why would I name my self Josh? I guess it's alight name. But not really for me.) I enter the tunnel. He's still following me. (persistent. I'll give him that. He seems like an alright person. But could I really be friends with him? Any of them?) I enter the laptop. "Josh! Come on buddy, get back here.". I turn around to face him.

"look sir, I can take care of my self. So just go back to the others and let me do my thing."

He brings his wrist up to him self. He starts pressing buttons on his wrist.

"hey Sarge Josh is trying to leave."

I roll my eyes and turn away from him. I look up at the floating icons. I spot one icon that resembles the earth. It has the letters www wrapping around it. I shrug, and jump onto it. A portal opens up and sucks me in. Well tries to suck me in. I get yanked back by my collar. I hit the ground. Hard, I shake my head quickly, and sit up. I look up to see who grabbed me. There's a blue, what I'm guessing is some sort of hedgehog standing above me. He picks me up by my arms.

"Josh we need to get you to eggman" he tells me. I pull my arm away from him.

"my name is not Josh. You can call me... Dave. You can call me Dave."

He narrows his eyes then shakes his head.

"okay Dave let's go"

he grabs my arm and starts running, very fast. He pulls me through the tunnel, insanely fast. Before I know it we've made it through game central station. (who is this guy? why is he bringing me to eggman?). He stops running. We're outside that same place I woke up in. The blue hedgehog pulls me into the place.

"eggman I got Dave". "Dave? I thought his name was Josh". "Well he told me to call him Dave". "Oh well it doesn't matter. Thank you sonic".

Sonic nods and runs out of the base.

"What's the deal eggman? I was in the middle of something" "Listen this virus is worse then we originally thought. The tests results have yielded some interesting results."

I shake my head. "Seriously how many times do I have to tell you? I feel fine." "it doesn't matter how you feel. This virus it's slowly deleting your code. The radiation poisoning is messing with your code even further. I'm amazed your still standing."

I sit down on the couch. (This Josh he must have really sucked to have gotten radiation poisoning and a virus).

"So is there any way to get rid of both problems?" "yes well I hope. The radiation poisoning I can easily get rid of. But the virus it will be rather difficult."

I'm about to ask him why but the door opens. Vanellope runs in.

"you tried leaving again?" I nod. "Yes. Yes I did" "why won't you let us help you?" "because I don't need help. With the virus yes. With my memory's no." Out of no where she punches me. I grab my shoulder. "Ow that hurt". "It was supposed to". "look I'm sorry. I'm not Josh. I may have been but he's gone now."

She shakes her head. "No! He's not! Your'e just not trying hard enough!" (I seriously have to get out of here.) I get an idea. I grab her by the shoulders and guide her over to the couch. She sits down. "now Vanellope...". I quickly press the button and the metal arms come out and restrain her. I smile. "I'm sorry Vanellope!". I say as I run for the door. "Josh get back here!". she yells but I'm already opening the door.

I run out and straight into her friends. (great just what I needed). Ralph tries to pick me up. I roll under him and head for the exit. "Don't follow me!". Of course they don't listen and follow me any ways. But Ralph runs into the base. (He's probably going to get Vanellope. Thanks to her glitching I won't make it far. Wait a second glitching that blonde guy said I could do it to.) A smile spreads across my face. I stop running and face the others. "Hey didn't some one say I can glitch?". They stop running and look a each other. "Yeah. Why?". "oh just wondering". I tell them. I push my muscles, like I'm trying to push something.

They give me a funny look. (Okay. You can do this. Just glitch. Like Vanellope.)

"what the heck are you doing kid?". Sarge asks me. I put a finger to my lips to shush her. (Why do they question everything I do? Did Josh screw a lot of things up? And if he did why did they keep him around?).

As these thoughts run through my head I didn't even notice Ralph and Vanellope sneak up on me. I get grabbed and pulled up.

"oh damn it! I should have just kept running." Ralph starts walking back to eggmans base. "Kid you have to stop trying to run away" I shake my head and start squirming around, trying to get out of his grip. "What if I don't?" "then we will have to knock you out again". He threatens.

(How did Josh stand these people?). "you are just the worst type of people". "We're doing this for your own good kid" "No. you're doing this to get your damn Josh back!". They stop walking. Ralph lifts me up to his eye level. "You are Josh". "No you want me to be. Josh is gone." He let's go of me. I fall to the ground. I land on my butt then fall onto my back.

Vanellope jumps onto me and hits me again, again and again. "You are Josh! You just have to remember!". I sit up, making her fall onto her back.

"I'm sorry. I'm not Josh." I reach out to help her up. She pulls her hand away and turns onto her side. She curls her self into a ball. I hear her sobbing. (Sheesh she must have really loved Josh.) I kneel down next to her. I begin rubbing her shoulder. "Im sorry sweet pea. Judging by how crazy your all acting, I'm guessing Josh was a great guy". She sits up and rubs her eyes.

(Well that wasn't too hard getting her to calm down). "How did you come up with sweet pea?". "Green hood, green as in pea, sugar rush, sugar as in sweet." She smiles and hugs me. "Josh. Dave. What ever your name is, we still need to fix your problems."

I hear eggman tell me. I frown.

"I'm fine dr" "no you are not. If we don't find a way to get rid of the virus you will be deleted." "So? Even if I get deleted what does it matter? My games gone so I have no reason to stick around."

Vanellope tries wrapping wrapping her arm around mine but I pull away. "Josh we need to fix you" she tells me. "No you don't. You want to" "Yes I do want to. Every one does." "okay I get it. You guys want Josh back. But he's not coming back." I turn towards the exit and start walking.

I stop and turn back. I take Josh's goggles off my head and place them on Vanellope. I tap her cheek with my left hand. "It was nice to meet you." I walk backwards for a few steps then turn around. (Hopefully I can leave and find out what happened to my game with out any interruptions.) I make it the tunnel. I turn my head to look back. They remain motionless. Watching as I walk away. Vanellopes eyes are becoming watery. Biting my lip, looking away I continue walking. (I hope they don't miss Josh too much.)

I push the thought out of my head. (I have to forget about these people. Focus on my game, My friends. Even my enemies.) Turning as soon as I get out of the tunnel I bump into somebody.

"I'm sorry sir." "Sir? Josh I think your older then me." The short blonde male tells me. He's wearing all brown except for some orange stripes on his pants. He places his fists on his hips and raises an eye brow.

"Josh what's the matter with you?" I shake my head. "sorry you must have confused me with someone else." I walk around him and continue to the laptop. (How many people did Josh know? Dozens, hundreds? Maybe even thousands. No that would be insane. Maybe thousands of people knew him. Was he famous? Lucky bugger.) Finally making it to the tunnel. For once no interruptions. Entering the tunnel I look back to make sure no one is following. Thankfully no one is. I step into the tunnel. Making my way to the end of the tunnel something changes. Something stops me from walking into that laptop. (Come on just go into the damn laptop!) My feet don't move.

"Hey Josh where are you going?" I turn around and face the person talking to me. I smile.

"Oh hello Taffyta." "Why are you going into the laptop?". "Just going to look around." "Well great I'll come with." I shake my head. "Sorry I'm a one man wolf pack." "I wasn't asking." I look back at the laptop. Then back to Taffyta. "Why do you want to come with me?" "I just do. So I'm coming with you" I place my hands in my pockets. And continue walking through the tunnel. I turn my head towards her and nod for her to follow. She runs up next to me and wraps her arm around mine. (Well I guess she's not all that bad. I would rather be on my own but she obviously won't let that happen.) We walk silently through the lit tunnel. I slow down my pace. (Is she going to follow me everywhere? Or just to the end of the tunnel. Honestly I could use the company.

"So why are you going to the laptop?" "I don't know. I have nothing better to do." "Is that so? Why aren't you with Vanellope and the others?" "I decided to go my own way. Leave Josh's life. Begin my own. I just need my name now." She raises an eye brow and stops walking. I stop as well. "Why? What are you going to do?" "I'm going to find my game and go home." "Your game got unplugged though." "I know. I'm going to find another one of my games." Her eyes look down at the ground. She unwraps her arm from mine.

"What about sugar rush?" "That games not for me." "But your a good racer." "No. Josh was a good racer."

I turn and keep walking. She follows shortly and wraps her arm around mine again. (So far this girl and Stephen, were the only ones to make a good impression. Okay I guess the blue clothes guy didn't really do anything wrong. But I like this girl, she seems cool. I guess. Besides the whole pink everything thing she has going on.) We step into the laptop when I get frozen in place. "What's happening to you?". "I don't know." I tell her. The red coding wraps around my feet. It starts spreading and wraps around my body. (Why does bad things always happen to me?). It covers my entire body and squeezes. It doesn't suffocate me though. The pressure is relieved and I fall to the ground. Looking up my jaw drops. Its me. Well not me because I'm here.

"Hello Josh. My name is Dave."


	15. A new threat

"Okay first, I'm not Josh, second who are you? And why are you here?".  
"Oh yes you are Josh. And I told you I am Dave. I am here to help you."  
"Help me? How?" "Well you want to leave correct?"

I stand up and step towards Dave.

"Yes I want to leave how can you help me with that?" "Your friends won't let you leave. But if they don't know you have left they can't stop you."

(Why does this guy want to help me? What could he gain from helping me?)

"So let me get this straight. You want to switch places with me?" "Ah so you do have half a brain!"

I cross my arms and lean backwards.

"Why?"  
"To help my friend"  
"Uhm well I wouldn't exactly call us friends seeing how I just me you."

He crosses his arms and narrows his eyes.

"Alright acquaintance what ever."

His change in tone surprises me. (One minute he's acting like my best friend, the next he sounds like he despises me. What's his deal?)

"Yeah what ever. Well how would we pull it off? Switching places I mean." "You just walk away. Don't look back. Do what ever you please."

He wraps his hands around his back. He starts walking circles around me. Examining me. He pokes my arms, chest, back. I step away when he starts squeezing my muscles.

"Well what do you do?"  
"I become Josh. Who he was. It will be like he never even left."

He stops right behind me. I turn to face him. Taffyta walks up next to me. (Dang I forgot she was here. How are we suppose to pull this off now?)

"Josh are you really going to go along with this?" "It would have worked. I guess. For a while it might have."

Dave walks in front of me and nudges me towards the laptop. I look around him and see Vanellope and the others walking down the tunnel.

"Oh great they found me again." "Don't worry I got this."

Dave walks towards them and extends his arms out. They stop walking. Dave reaches them and stops.

"Ah hey there guys."  
"Josh? Is that you?"

Dave nods then crosses his arms.

"Of course who else would it be?"  
"Well you could have been that guy."

Vanellope points to me. They walk around Dave then towards me.

"Who the heck are you?"  
"Uhm. My names Dave."

Vanellope squints her eyes and moves closer to me. I step away and wrap my hands behind my back.

"Well Dave. Why do you look exactly like Josh?"  
"I copied his code so I can have my own body."

She leans in closer again. (Crap she couldn't know already. Could she?) I take another step back. She leans in again. I put my palm on her face and gently push her away.

"Okay I would like some personal space."  
"Hmm well it's nice to meet you Dave. My names Vanellope."

She grabs my hand and shakes it rapidly. I return the shake.

"Well Dave why are you here?"  
"Like I said I wanted my own body so I copied his code. So if to don't mind I will be heading off now."

I turn and walk back into the laptop. Dave runs up behind me and grabs my shoulder.

"Come on buddy. You have to at least visit a while."  
"No. I don't."

He grabs my arm and pulls me over to the others. (Come on Dave just let me leave. They're going to find out eventually. Hopefully when I'm long gone)

"Yeah Dave! Come to the castle. Have some candy!" "No I really should get going."

Vanellope grabs my other arm. Dave and Vanellope work together to drag me out of the tunnel. I look back and see the others following us.

(Why hasn't Taffyta said anything? Not that I'm complaining. Just curious.) I yank my arms trying to escape. (Damn Dave is strong.) I yank again.

"Nuh uh you aren't going any where"

Vanellope tells me. She yanks me out of the tunnel and we enter game central station. Some people turn there heads to look at Dave and Vanellope pulling me through the station. (I guess two of the same characters isn't a normal sight here.)

"Well Dave have you ever had candy before?" "No I haven't."

She gives me a look of disbelief. She speeds up as we get closer to Sugar Rush.

"You and Josh are so weird."  
"What's bad about being weird?" "Nothing. Weird is good."

We enter the tunnel to sugar rush. I look back at Ralph and the others. They're slowly falling behind us. I yank my arm once more before giving up. (I was so close to being home free.)

"Hey Taffyta."  
"Yeah Van?"  
"Why were you with Josh and Dave anyways?"

Taffyta hesitates for a second. She looks back down the tunnel towards game central station.

"I was just hanging out with them."  
"What were you guys doing?"  
"Just walking around"

Vanellope narrows her eyes. (Just walking around? Is that the best you could come up with? Vanellope obviously noticed we were in the laptop tunnel.)

Exiting the tunnel I notice we are very far ahead of Ralph and the others now. Dave and Vanellope pull me down the path.

"Do I really need to do this? I mean I do have other things to do."  
"Nope You don't have any plans now."

Dave let's go of me. Leaving Vanellope to drag me on her own. I begin yanking my arm again. Vanellop keeps a tight grip on me. She pulls me through the castle doors then towards the throne room.

"Candy is amazing. You can't not like candy." "I could if I knew what it was."

Vanellope rolls her eyes and let's go of me. I rub my now numb arm. I turn around and start walking out of the throne room. (No detours. One goal, leave as soon as possible.) Vanellope grabs me again and pulls me down the hall. She stops and turns toward Dave.

"Wait here!"

She begins running down the hall again with me in tow. She stops at a door at the end of the hall. She opens it then throws me in. I stumble forward and hit the ground. I turn onto my back them prop my self up on my elbows.

"You are such a stink brain!"  
"I'm sorry? I guess. What did I do?"

I stand up onto my feet. She pushes me again. I land on my butt. I look up at her.

"What was that for?" I ask her.  
"For being a stink brain! How stupid do you think I am?"

I think for a moment. I stand up but she pushes me down again. This time I just stay sitting down.

"I know it's you Josh. I'm not a stink brain. Not like you." "How did you know I wasn't Dave?"

She crosses her arms.

"Well first Dave didn't have any blood on his jacket. Second he didn't have a ring on any of his fingers."

I look down at my blood stained jacket. (God damn. I swear I will beat the crap out of 643. Wait 643? Yeah the blonde guy.) I shake my head.

"Well if you knew how come you didn't tell the others?"  
"I thought they would find out too. I guess I was wrong."

I slap my forehead and sigh. (Why does she insist on keeping me around? How great could Josh have been?) I stand up again. This time she doesn't push me.

"Why do you want to leave so badly?" "This place isn't for me. I belong in my game. Alone."  
"No your game got unplugged. How many times do I have to tel you? God your skull is so thick it makes Ralph's skull look like paper."

(How could Josh stand this girl? She is so mean. Okay I'll admit she is cute but other than that I can't see much. And what about Taffyta? She pulled me out of the taffy lake. She hasn't called me stink brain or thrown me onto the ground.)

"Okay I'm sorry for your loss. I know what it feels like to lose some one important. Kinda, my parents were killed by bandits. At least thats what my programming tells me." "But you were programmed to lose them. They never existed, like Calhoun and her first husband." "Doesn't matter. The feelings are real."

I walk past Vanellope and head for the door. She wraps her arm around mine and spins me around back into the room. She let's go and I fall onto the bed. (This bed is so soft. It feels familiar.)

I close my eyes and begin falling asleep. (I didn't know I was so tired. I have been running around all day.) I feel Vanellope crawl onto the bed next to me. She wraps the blankets around us. I warm up quickly and fall asleep.

I get woken up by someone poking my shoulder. I turn my head to them. Dave is standing above us poking me.

"Hey get up"  
"Why?" "We are switching places."  
"Now?"  
"Yes now"

I slide off the bed and onto the ground. As quietly as possible. He takes his jacket off and passes it to me.

"Why are you giving me this?"  
"So she will think I'm Josh"

I nod and remove my jacket. I pass it to him and put his on. He does the same with my jacket.

"Your ring as well"

I remove my ring and give it to him. He takes it and places it on his finger. I nod then walk to the door. But as soon as my back is turned he jumps on me. He wraps his arms around my neck and begins choking me.

I grab his arms and throw him over me. He lands on his back. I walk up to him and get ready to stomp on his head. Before I do Vanellope jumps on my back.

"Leave him alone!" "No he tried to kill me."

She glitches around taking me with her. When she let's go I fly into Dave. He grabs me and glitches us through the wall smashing it. He let's go. I roll onto the ground and stop on my back. He walks over to me and kneels down.

"Well Josh thanks for the life."

He taps me on the cheek. He stands up straight, lifts his foot up and steps on my face knocking me out.

I come to a little while later. I'm in a dark room. I see some drawings on the wall, four chains attached to the walls all leading to me. I try moving but I'm chained up. I keep squirming until I hear Vanellope.

"Come on Ralph just go in there and beat the fudge out of him."  
"No I will not."  
"He tried killing Josh"  
"It doesn't matter. Calhoun or Felix will talk to Dave."

I try moving but it's no use. What I thought was another wall turns out to be a door. I know this because it opens. I frown when Sarge walks in.

"No I would rather talk to your boyfriend." "Doesn't matter what you want Dave."

I sigh and hang my head. She walks in front of me. She grabs the hair at the back of my head and pulls up so she can look me in the eyes.

"Alright Dave, why did you try to kill Josh? Are you going turbo?" "He attacked me first and I have no idea who turbo is."

She pulls her hand up and back down slapping me. My head jerks to the side. My sides rub against the chains. She slaps me again and again.

"Why did you try and kill Josh?" "I didn't if I wanted to kill him he would be dead. And second he isn't Josh."

She starts slapping me again. My cheeks are swollen along with one of my eyes. My arms are completely numb. She stops slapping me and grabs my collar.

"I'm done being nice. Tell me what you plan on doing."  
"You were being nice? You are just a horrible person."

She let's go of me and slaps me once more before turning and walking out of the dungeon. She slams the huge door behind her. A couple minutes later the door opens again and the small blue clothed guy walks in. He cringes when he sees my face.

"Yeah your girlfriend sure does pack a punch."  
"She is my wife not girlfriend."

I roll my eyes and look away fro him. He slowly walks over to me. He pulls out a hammer and taps me on the face. The pain disappears. I feel better.

"Okay. Dave we just want to know why you attacked Josh."  
"Okay. Blue dude he attacked me first."  
"Felix my name is Felix."

I groan and arch my back as far as I can. (Actually I might be able to work with this.)

"Okay Felix. I have a proposition."  
"What is it?" "You let me go. Now before you deny just hear me out. I leave. I won't come back. You guys can just pretend I was never here."

He shakes his head. He turns around and walks out of the room. The door closes behind him and I'm left in the darkness again. (What more could they want? Its win win. They get Josh. I get to leave.) The door opens again and Dave walks in.

"Really it's that easy? You would leave all of your friends?"  
"Yes it's thats easy. And they are not my friends. They are Josh's friends."  
"You are such a moron. I thought when I left your body your memories would start returning to you. That's why I attacked you."

I narrow my eyes. I start thrashing around trying to get out of the chains. (My memories? So is it true? Am I really Josh? No I'm not. I'm just losing it.)

"Okay Dave just let me go. I'll walk away you can keep Josh's life."  
"No can do buddy. Can't risk it. You're a bigger threat than you think"

He places an arm on my shoulder for a couple moments. When he let's go he turns around and walks out of the room. before the door closes Ralph walks in.

"Save me the lecture gigantor."  
"No you will get a lecture kid."  
"You get the same deal Ralph. You let me go I walk away. It's a win win. You guys get your Josh back. I get to leave."

He takes a step back. (These guys are very protective of Josh. I should get a name. No not now. Remember one goal. Leave as soon as possible.)

"Dave you can't just go around attacking people" "Stop calling me Dave I'm not Dave. And I wasn't attacking him it was self defense."

He narrows his eyes, steps forward and breaks me out of the chains. He picks me up and brings me up to his eye level.

"Self defense?"  
"Yes self defense. He attacked me first when we switched clothes."  
"Why would you switch clothes?" "Dave and I were going to switch lives. He would be your new Josh and I would get to leave."

He turns around and brings me out of the dungeon. I see a stair well at the end of the hallway. The hallway is lined with cells a majority of them are empty but I see a small pair of hands clinging onto the bars of one of the cells.

"Who's in that cell?"

Ralph doesn't answer. But as we pass it I see a small gray man in a white jump suit with red stripes on it he has a oversized helmet on.

"God damn you Wreck-it Let me out of here!"

(Something about that guy gives me the chills. I don't like him. I don't even know his name or what he did yet I don't like him.)

"Where are you taking me?"  
"To talk to the others."

(Right the two that abuse me and Felix. I don't mind Felix. I guess he's nice enough. On the other hand though is Vanellope and Sarge. They both hit me and yell at me a lot.)

Ralph brings me up the stairs and through a couple doors that eventually leads us outside. I see that we are at the side of the castle. He walks around the corner then to the front doors. Finally after a couple minutes of walking we make it to the throne room where every one is.

"Why did you bring him with you?" Vanellope asks.  
"I believe that this is the real Josh."

They give him a look of disbelief. (Yeah if they didn't believe me I doubt they would believe you Ralph.)

"Why would you think that?" "Well he claimed self defense. He also called me gigantor."

He puts me down. And walks over to the others. Dave walks past Ralph and over to me. He grabs my collar and brings me close to his face.

"Hey there Josh."  
"Should have just let me go Dave."

We whisper back and forth while the others talk.

"Like I said can't risk it."  
"You should have. They're going to figure it out I'm not Dave."

Dave gets lifted up into the air. He's still holding onto me so I get pulled up as well. (They must have figured it out. They're smarter than they look.) Dave let's go of me and I fall to the ground.

"Alright Dave jigs up."

Ralph wraps his fingers around Dave and starts walking out of the throne room.

Vanellope helps me up. As soon as I'm standing she hugs me.

"I'm sorry I didn't know you were you"  
"Eh you can't blame your self. He was good at being me."

I place a hand on her shoulder and push her away slowly. (Well crap they know I'm me. I guess I can't just walk away.) after a few minutes of silence I sit down on the throne.

"So why would Dave try and take over Josh's life?" I ask Vanellope.  
"You mean your life?"

I roll my eyes and lean back in the throne.

"Look I'm not Josh. Get it into your head..."

When I finish saying that I hear a loud crash under the castle. I jump up and pull Vanellope behind my back. Ralph suddenly smashes through the floor. He slams into the ceiling and falls to the ground. Vanellope runs past me, over to Ralph.

(What the hell happened to him? Was that Dave?) I run over to the hole and look down. A red tentacle flies out of it and latches to the chandelier on the ceiling. A red thing flies out of it the red thing spins then lands behind me. I turn around to look at it.

Blood red skin, very muscular. (Who is this guy? Or thing what ever it is.) I run at it and jump. He doesn't even flinch. Before I get any where near him a red tentacle comes out of his shoulder and grabs my leg.

He brings me over to him. I'm hanging upside down as he pulls me over. He brings me up to his fully black eyes. His face pulls back. Literally his face is torn apart into four pieces and rolls backwards. I see the gray skinned guy behind the "mask"

"Why thank you for this new power Josh. Me and Dave are very grateful." 


	16. The upgrade

I grab his tentacle and try and pull my leg out. (Why thank me? What did I do?) He laughs and the "mask" returns to it's normal state around his face. (That laugh is demonic. Creepy as hell) he whips the tentacle sending me flying towards the wall.

I smash through the wall and end up outside. (Okay this guy is going down.) I groan and sit up.

"Get up soldier!"  
"Come on Josh. We need your help."

I stand up and run back into the castle. I jump through the hole and pull out my sword. Well try to but it's not there.

"Hey! Wheres my sword?" "We put it in your room!"

I run at the the red guy and slide under him. I stand up when I'm behind him then start running. Something wraps around my foot. Thrown up into the air. I look down at the red guy. (He's not even trying. His arms are crossed.) I backflip so I'll land on my feet.

I'm close to the ground when he grabs me with another tentacle. He whips it down throwing me through the hole he made. I hit the ground below. Hard. (Crap I can't get any where. Not with his damn tentacles.) I place my hand on the wall and push my self up.

"How ya doing Josh?"

I look up at the red guy. He has several tentacles restraining the others. He crosses his arms, waiting for my response. I cough and jump back up.

"I am not Josh" "Oh tsk tsk Josh. When will you learn?"

Another tentacle emerges from his back. He sends it after me. I roll out of the way. He swings it to the side. Hitting me just as I stand up. I get sent into the air and hit the ground just as quickly. I roll and hit the wall.

(He's stronger, faster but I doubt he's smarter.) His tentacle slams me into the wall. It wraps around me. grabbing it I try pulling it off me but his grip is too tight. Vanellope screams, damn it, I pull harder. (Think. What can I do? I'm not strong enough to beat him.)

I watch Vanellope. She glitches out of the tentacles. (Glitching, they said I can do it to, didn't they?) I close my eyes. (If she can do it so can I. Go through the tentacles. Just like her)

I glitch through the tentacles ripping it off the red guy. I begin laughing.

He brings out another tentacle and begins attacking me again. I roll, jump, glitch and run for my sword as fast as I can. (Crap I can't just leave the others. I can defend them with ease with my sword. Hopefully I can.) I glitch again through the door to Josh's room.

(Wait why am I going to defend these guys? Survival of the fittest. With my new glitching I could easily run away.) I push the thought away. (No they'd be screwed with out me.) I run over to the dresser where my sword is and pick it up. The door gets smashed open by the red guys tentacle.

I jump at the window and glitch through it I flip and land on the ground. (They seem tough but I'm doing better than them. For now.) I spot Vanellope running out the front doors of the castle. She sees me and runs over. (Augh what is she doing?) I wave her away.

"Josh! What the heck is that thing?" "I'm not Josh! And I have no idea what it is."

She reaches me just as the red thing jumps out of the window. I grab Vanellope then glitch out of the way. (Great now I got Vanellope to worry about. I have to get this thing away from the others. I can't take him into game central though.)

"Get the others! I'll take care of this guy.  
"What? No. You can't fight him."

I nod my head and throw her at the castle doors. She glitches into the castle and disappears.

"Alright you crazy thing, it's just me and you."  
"We will devour your coding Joshua!"

(We? The red "suit" is that Dave? So the gray skinned guy and Dave?) I spin my sword around, point it at him and take my fighting stance. He crosses his arms and begins laughing.

"What? Are you afraid to fight me?"  
"Ah you are a funny one Butterscotch. Have it your way."

One of his tentacles begins morphing. It slowly takes the form of a sword. He swings his tenta-sword at me. I parry to the left, blocking his sword. I swing my sword forward. Cutting him on chest. He jumps back and swings at my head I deflect it. Thrust forward and manage a small wound.

(Okay I can do this. This is a lot easier than I thought.) Of course this moment doesn't last long. Another tentacle forms a sword he attacks me with that one as well. Parry, roll, jump, glitching all of that. Rolling under him I swing and cut him in the leg. He spins around. I jump onto my feet but he kicks me. Flying through the air I hit a candy cane tree. (Okay I could use a little help. Where is Ralph when I need him?)

"Just give up Josh! Not you or any one in this world can stop me."

(No one in this world. This world. Not anyone in Sugar Rush. But what about some one else?)

Standing up I'm filled with the same goal I've had this whole time. (Leave as soon as possible. I may not be able to stop him at least not alone. But there are people on this planet that can.)

"Your right. I can't stop you."  
"Then give up!" "No. Never."

He swings at me I push off the candy cane tree and slide under him. I roll onto my feet and start running for the exit. I glitch towards it dodging his oncoming tentacles.

"Get back here and fight me!"  
"Sorry Dave! I'm not stupid!"

I reach the exit and run through the tunnel. Making my way through game central station I push people out of my way. Knocking some onto the ground. I apologize to everyone I push. I stop in the middle of the station.

"Everyone back to your games now!" I yell.

My warning is met with silence. Some stop to stare at me others just ignore me and keep doing their own things.

"Why should we listen to you?" a character yells at me.

Dave walks out of the tunnel. I spot him and start running again. He begins grabbing as many characters as he can with his tentacle. I make it to my destination and enter the laptop.

"Your not going any where!" Dave the demon yells at me.  
"Yes I am. I'm going to the Internet!"

I jump onto the earth icon. It opens up and sucks me in. (Hopefully Dave will follow me. But he'll probably stay to take over game central station. It doesn't matter I wont need much time. At least I hope not.)

Flying through the tunnel I look back. (Of course he wouldn't be stupid enough to follow me. What can I find on the Internet to help me anyways? Everything. That's what Calhoun said at least. Calhoun? No Sarge.) Flipping I land gracefully on the ground at the end of the tunnel.

"Okay if I was a overpowered weapon where would I be?" "I hear that your looking for a powerful weapon. Would you like a hand?"

I turn to the voice and see a paperclip. (This guy is annoying. I just met him though.)

"Ah! Josh I didn't even recognize you!" he floats over to me and shakes my hand.

"Not Josh. But I could use help."  
"Oh okay. Well what can I help you with friend?" "I need a weapon that can kill some one in one go."

He gasps and floats backwards. (Yeah I guess it's a weird request.)

"Look paperclip guy there are a lot of lives at risk I need a weapon."  
"Well you can look but I'm not sure."

I roll my eyes and walk past him. Entering the city a feeling enters me. (I'm free. I don't have to go back. They can defend them selves. There were dozens of characters that could fight him maybe hundreds. No leaving would be a cowards way out. I can't help everyone. Someone screams. Turning around I spot Dave exiting the door I came through.

"Joshua! I know your in here!" "Josh isn't here!" I yell at him.

He spots me hiding behind some people. A grin spreads across his face. He jumps into the air above me and flies straight down towards me. I don't have enough time to dodge. His feet are the first to make contact straight onto the top of my head. I slam into the ground making a large crack.

"Josh you pathetic fool. You can't escape. No matter how hard you try you will always fail."  
"No. You will always fail. Just like in my game the bad guy always loses."

I glitch. Sending him into the air. I fall back down towards the crowd before I hit the crowd someone catches me. (Well at least someone helps me.) I look at my savior. She has black hair that is pulled back into a pony tail. She's wearing a orange jumpsuit and she has a rather large gun looking thing on her right arm. She tilts her head and gives me a smile.

"Thanks lady." I jump out of her arms but lose my balance on the ground. Before I hit the ground Dave's tentacles wrap around me. He throws me through the crowd. I hit a group of people then fall to the ground. One of them picks me up. He begins laughing loudly.

"Oh ho hello my friend! I thought I recognized you!" he straightens me out.

(How many people did Josh know? Doesn't matter they can help me by the looks of it.)

"Can you help me?"  
"Of course! you helped us with the robots! We will help you with this."

He pushes me behind him and grabs the large mini-gun strapped to his back. He pulls it in front of his and spins it up.

"Come on you red beast!" the large guy yells.

Dave starts laughing maniacally. It gives me goose bumps. The large man starts firing at Dave. The bullets go through him with no affect. Dave continues walking forward, laughing.

"Go my friend we will hold him off."

A couple more guys join him with a assortment of different weapons. Mini-gun, sniper, shotgun and what I'm guessing is a flamethrower.

I turn and run further into the city. As fast as I can I look around for anything that can help me. The gunfire behind me begins to silence. (I hope they can really fight him. Or at least distract him.)

"Hey wait up friend!" "Sorry clip no time! I have to find something to stop him"

He catches up to me. Floating next to me he grabs my arm.

"We can find something a lot easier I know someone that can help!"  
"Really? Who is it?"  
"He always asked for help. Just follow me."

He pick me up and flies us through the city. (who is his friend? How can he help?)

"It won't take long to get there. He's a scientist in Hero's duty. He might have a weapon that can help"

He starts slowing down then stops. He floats down to a door and puts me down.

"What's his name?"  
"His name is Brad Scott."

He opens the door then gestures for me to enter. (Okay Dr Brad Scott.) I enter the door and fly through the tunnel. (How can this guy help me? What weapon could he have? Or possibly weapons.) I land on some carpeting. Looking up I notice I'm in some sort of office. It has a couple people buzzing around doing they're work. What ever that is.) one of them spots me and walks over.

"Well hello there. Can I help you with anything?"  
"I'm looking for Brad Scott."  
"Why?"  
"I need his help."

The guy nods and walks away. He stops after a couple steps.

"Well come on" he orders.

I follow him through the halls of the office building. (Brad Scott? Seems familiar.) He stops me in front of a door. He knocks on the door. Something crashes on the other side. A lot of shuffling and things falling. It goes quite for a second before the door opens. I'm surprised to see Calhoun standing there. She only has her lower half of her armor on and a white t-shirt

"What is it?" she asks.  
"this kid is looking for Mr Scott."  
"Why?"

The guy shrugs then walks away. I bite my lip suppressing my laughter.(Were they doing what I think they were doing?) She crosses her arms and leans on the door frame. She raises her eyebrow.

"What is it?"  
"A paper clip told me that Brad can help me. He said that Brad might have a weapon I could use."

I push my way past her and enter the room. I stop when I see Brad pulling his pants up.

"What the heck were you guys doing?" I ask Calhoun.  
"Grown up stuff. What do you need a weapon for?" "There's something out there that needs to be stopped. If he's not stopped he will kill my friends."

They look at each other. Brad raises a eyebrow. Calhoun sighs then nods. Brad smiles, stands up and walks over to me.

"Okay kid first how do we know your telling the truth?" "You don't. But if you don't help me all my friends will die."  
"okay kid. I'll help you"

I smile. He walks past me out into the hall and gestures for me to follow I run up next to him. He pulls a cellphone out of his pocket. He dials a number then puts it up to his ear.

"Yeah it's Brad we got one for an upgrade. Yes right now! Well get every one to the surgery room."

He ends the call and puts the phone away. (Surgery room? Why a surgery room?)

"Why do you need a surgery room?"  
"Well were not going to do surgery on you on top of a desk are we?"

I bite my lip. (Why am I getting surgery? Do I need it for the weapon? Is the weapon so strong that I wouldn't be able go handle it?)

"Okay kid there's one thing about this surgery. It's going to cost a arm and a leg."  
"How much money is that?"  
"No seriously an arm and a leg."

When I stop walking he does too. He raises his eyebrow.

"What do you mean a arm and leg?"  
"Well how else are we supposed to get the bionics into you?"  
"Bionics? What the heck are bionics?"  
"Bionics are basically upgrades for your body. They can do a lot of things from giving you super strength to letting you fly."

(Wow they can do that? Why doesn't every one do that?)

"If they can do all that why doesn't everyone get upgrades?" "Simple it's dangerous and takes a long time for you to adjust."

I take in a deep breath then exhale. (If I do this will it help? Anything will help. Dave must die.)

"Okay let's do this."  
"Atta boy lets go prep you for your upgrade."

He continues walking down the hall so I follow. He leads me to a small circular room with a bed in the middle. A couple people make a half circle around it. To the left of the bed is a large table of tools and what I'm guessing is upgrades machines that hook up to the bed. Some that have wires going in every direction. Mad scientist is more like it.

"Alright kid what upgrades do you want?"  
I think. (Dave is stronger so I'll need super strength. Also anything that will help me fight from a distance. Speed, strength, weapons.) "I need speed, strength and as many weapons you can pack into me."

All his co workers begin murmuring to each other. I hear some of them calling me crazy, psychotic, stupid. Brad steps forward.

"Okay people shut up. Let's get this over with." Brad orders.

Immediately they start buzzing around the table. I get pulled over to the table and placed on top. I'm ordered to lay down. When I'm down they place something over my mouth and nose. My eyelids begin closing. I grow tired very quickly. (I immediately regret this decision.)


	17. Josh 2 point O

My eyes open but my vision is different, a bit blurry. (Is it over? Did the surgery work?) I try and sit up but it doesn't work. My body remains motionless, I can't even blink. I'm not even sure if I'm breathing or not. I can't hear anything. Panic sets in.

One of the scientists are standing over me, scribbling away furiously on a clipboard. Their lips begin moving.

A shock goes through my body. Taking in a deep breath, my chest begins rising then falling again, breathing returns to normal. Sniffing the air a smell enters my nose, it smells good but at the same time another smell invades my nose making me gag. (Weird it's a persons scent. How did I know that?) The scientist above me begins talking.

"Okay sir main functions online."  
"Activate secondary functions."

Another shock goes through my body. My fingers curl into a fist. My eyes flash in a red hue, blue hue, green hue. Finally my vision returns to normal. A red circle appears and begins floating around my pupils. While groaning I sit up.

"Ah your okay! That's great!" Brad says patting me on the back.

I rub my eyes with my hand. Looking up at him I notice the red circle has targeted his face and has turned green. It floats away from him, then targets the others, turning green at each face before moving to the next person. (What is it doing? What is it for?)

"Well how are you feeling?" Brad asks me.  
"Never felt better."  
"Awesome! Well we should get you into physical training."  
"Training for what? I feel great."

He crosses his arms. "Well even if that's true you need time to adjust to your new bionics. Also you need to be trained with your new weaponry."  
"What new weaponry?"  
"Well you name it. Laser vision, short range missiles both heat seeking and un-guided, flamethrowers, shoulder mini-gun, hand repulsors. The list goes on and on"

My jaw drops. Closing my mouth, I smirk. (Damn this is going to be awesome.)

I jump off the bed then begin stretching.  
"I don't have time to train. I can't remember why but I only have until Sunday to get back."  
"It's Friday. So you have two days to get back. Which means you do have time to train."

He walks toward the door. I follow him. Catching up to him outside, I notice something different about this place, the smell of coffee fills my nostrils, some donuts and sweat. Gross. (Super smell? Not exactly my first choice but it's cool. I guess.)

"Okay so I have other duties to attend to, so Tammy will be training you." Brad tells me.

(Tammy? Oh yeah Calhoun. Who called her Tammy besides Brad?) I shake my head. (Doesn't matter right now. Why not? If I really did lose my memory I should try and remember everything. No later. Kick ass weapons first. Memories later.)

Brad leads me down the hall. Calhoun waits next to the elevator, arms crossed, foot tapping. She has her usual stern expression when she greets us.

Finally, what took you two so damn long? She asks.  
Sorry Tam, we had to cram as much weapons as we could fit into him. Brad tells her.

She looks down at me then rolls her eyes. Turning around she presses the button to call the elevator. (What is her problem? Well I wouldn't want to spend my free time training me either.)

It doesn't take long for the the elevator to show up. When it does me and Calhoun step into the elevator. Brad waves to us as the doors slide shut. Calhoun nods, I wave at him.

So why are you doing this? Calhoun asks me.  
I told you. If I don't do this my friends will most likely die. How do you know that?

I think for a moment. (Would Dave kill them? I know he was willing to kill me. But even he said I was a threat. He had a reason to kill me. I'm a threat.)

I don't know if he would kill them. But he's dangerous. He has to be stopped. Well with your new bionics it shouldn't be too hard You would think so but hes strong. Maybe too strong.

She shakes her head.

No such thing as too strong. With your weaponry and super abilities you could take down a horde of cybugs. A horde of cybugs have nothing on Dave.

She lets out a breath. (Am I getting on her nerves already? Oh well doesn't matter.)

So how long will this training take? I have to get back to my friends. It depends. On what? On your stupidity level."

(Stupid? I'm not stupid. Well at least not on purpose.)

Okay so I should get it instantly then?'  
No probably not. You also need a lot of luck. Why? So you don't explode from the power levels.

(Explode? Great, just perfect. Well if I explode I'll make sure I'm next to Dave.)

So if I don't explode I could destroy Dave? Yes. Now shut your pie hole. Here's your training schedule.

She hands me a list. Looking it over I notice that I'm getting half an hour of training with each weapon.

"Ugh, this is going to take forever." I say "If you keep talking it will."

(Sheesh, This Calhoun is worse than the one I know.) The elevator finally reaches it's destination. The bottom floor. Well below the bottom floor. We are so far down I can't even smell the coffee anymore.

"Alright private first station"

(Okay what is my first station?) I look down at my schedule. (Wrist pistols? What is a wrist pistol? Well a wrist pistol duh.)

"So where is the wrist pistol station?"

Calhoun points to a shooting range to the left of the elevator. She walks over to it so I follow.

"Okay pull out your wrist pistols." Calhoun orders.  
"I would. But I have no idea how to."

She rolls her eyes and begins massaging her temples.

"Just think wrist pistols while pointing your wrists up." she tells me.

Pointing my wrists into the air I think, (Wrist pistols!) My wrists open up and two pistols are built straight into my hands.

"Wow, that's awesome." "Calm down short stack they're just pistols." Calhoun says.

I spin both pistols in my fingers, aim down range and start firing. Of course I miss almost every shot. Frowning I put the pistols on the table in front of me.

"Did you even use the targeting system?" Calhoun asks me.  
"What targeting system?" "The little red circle that should be floating around your eyes."

(I forgot about that.) The little red circle floats around slowly. When I look at the cybug target nothing happens.

"You have to think it's a threat first." Calhoun tells me. I nod

(Okay little circle thing lock on.) Again nothing happens. (That piece of cardboard is a threat!) Suddenly the circle flies over to the target. It changes from a circle to a triangle. Picking up the pistols again I take aim at the targert and open fire.

The clip is emptied, smoke is floating up from the barrel. Smiling I lower the pistols.

"All bulls eyes. not bad kid."  
"That targeting system is awesome." I tell her.  
"Of course it is. Brad made it."

(Well if all the training is this easy I won't be here too long.)

Of course after a couple more training stations I learn that I was wrong. Very wrong. The missle training was probably the worst. One of my missles almost blew me up along with a couple soldiers. That is when Calhoun decided she had enough of me.

"God damn it kid! What is wrong with you?"  
"There are too many things to list sarge." I tell her.

She grabs me by the wrist and starts dragging me to the elevator.

"You know what? I'm done. You are leaving right now!" "And you know what? I'm okay with that."

She pushes me into the elvator. Making me fall onto my face. Turning onto my back the red circle starts going wild. When Calhoun comes into my vision the red circle locks onto her and turns into a triangle. She narrows her eyes then kneels down next to me. A silver cylinder pops out of my left shoulder. Her eyes shoot open and she dives out of the elevator. The cylinder shoots a small glowing ball that demolishes the elevator. The elevator starts falling down fast. Smoke clouds the closed space. I begin floating into the air.

(Oh crap. What did I do now? I wish I could fly.) As soon as the word fly enters my mind I get pushes up into the air. Smashing through the ceiling of the elevator I smile. (I can fly! Crap Calhoun is going to beat the crap outta me. Well if I stop.) Passing the training floor I see Calhoun standing at the elevator door.

"You are so dead kid!" She yells.  
"Sorry! I didn't mean to do that!" I yell back.

Reaching the office floor I deactivate my flying feet things. (Okay time to get back to game central station.)

"What the hell happened down there?" Brad asks me.  
"A little malfuntion." I tell him "Immposible. The only malfunction I found was in your coding."

My eyes shoot open.

"What do you mean?" I ask "Well, when we were messing around with your coding to get the bionics working, we found some jumbled up coding that would normally cause you to be a glitch. But don't worry we manged to fix it."  
"Well thanks. I guess. Now if you dont mind I have to help my friends."

When I try walking past him he stops me.

"Is Tammy okay?"  
"Yeah she's fine" I tell him.

I continue walking past him. (Now I have to get out of here before she gets back up.) I start running through the office to the exit.

"Some one stop that kid!" Calhoun yells. A couple guys step in front of me blocking my path. They're not a challenge seeing how all I had to do was slide under them.

"Come on people. Just grab him!"

A smirk spreads across my face. I seem faster, quicker my reflexes increased. A foot pops out from a corner. I flip over it, grab it then spin around throwing the person across the room.

"I'm really sorry!" I yell at him as I reach the exit.

(Oh they are going to be very angry. Oh well I probably wont see these people ever again.) I open the door then jump in.

Landing in the city I quickly start running for the arcade. It doesn't take long for me to find it. (Alright here we go.) I open the door and jump in. 


	18. Dave the demon vs Josh the bot

I land in the laptop back in the arcade. (Alright Dave today you die. Well I hope you die.) The sound of screaming fills my now superhuman ears. (Crap what did Dave do?) "Someone do something!" "Help anyone please!" The screaming pulls me into the tunnel towards game central station. Glitching speeds me up but halfway through the tunnel I fall mid-glitch hitting the ground face first. (What just happened?) Standing up I look over my self. (Nothing out of the ordinary.) "Can anyone help?" Someone yells. (Damn I have no time for this. I have to help the others.) The screaming continues as I run through the tunnel. When I exit the tunnel I'm instantly bombarded by tentacles. They wrap around my eyes, blindfolding me basically. "Josh! You came back? You stink brain!" Vanellope yells. "How does that make me a stink brain?" "You should have just ran kid!" Ralph yells at me. "I would never do that. Well to be honest I was thinking about it. But I didn't do it." I tell them. I get yanked around, then thrown onto the ground. Something slams, the noise of a lock is heard. Screaming makes my ears ring. "Will you all please just shut up!" I yell covering my ears. It's no use. Their screaming make it through my hands, into my ears. (I can barely hear my self think. Let alone do anything about Dave. The cage I'm in shouldn't be too hard to break out of.) Standing up I crack my knuckles. (Okay this is where it ends. One way or another.) Looking around I notice that a majority of the arcade is here and locked up. "Ah it's so good that you have joined us short stack." It's Dave's body but some one else's voice. It's higher than Dave's. Annoying, snarky. "Why is that? Dave? Or, someone." "Bah you have no respect! My name is Turbo!" "Turbo? Never heard of you." He smashes a fist against the cage. The mask peels back, revealing the gray face I saw in the prison. "I am Turbo the greatest racer ever." he growls. "Greatest racer ever? I didn't know Vanellope could change shape and skin color." I retort. He scowls, grabs the bar and rips the cage open. He steps in and walks up to me. "That little glitch? She's nothing more than a pain in..." I punch him in the face silencing him. He cracks his neck. The mask peels back over his face. "You're going to regret that you little brat." He reaches down and picks me up by the collar. Pulling his fist back he gets ready to punch me. "Circle? He's a threat." I say. The circle locks onto Dave/Turbo and turns into a triangle. The silver cylinder pops out of my shoulder. I smirk. It fires directly into his face. It explodes shooting him out of the cage. I drop to the ground and land on my feet. I locate Vanellope and the others not to far from me also locked up. Dave or turbo which ever gets up. His face morphs back to it's original form. Uninjured. The red circle targets him. The cylinder fires again. He dodges it and begins running at me. "Okay. I'm going to get you guys out. Then I'll deal with Dave." I yell Targeting all the cages and Dave the cylinder fires a barrage of glowing orbs destroying cages and throwing smoke into the air. "Okay everyone back to your games!" I yell. Immediately everyone starts panicking. Characters running in every direction. My vision begins changing. It becomes a blue hue and I'm able to see through the smoke. (Awesome. Okay I can do this. I hope.) Scanning the area the circle spots Dave/Turbo and locks onto him. Instead of firing I run at him, it was a mistake. He sends his tentacles in my general direction. He probably can't see through the smoke. Glitching out of the way I overshoot and slam into the wall. "Josh! Where are you?" Vanellope yells. "Just go back to Sugar Rush! I'll be fine." I yell back. My new vision spots her through the smoke. Her head turns, looking around. Jumping to my feet and running over to her I forget about Davebo for a second. Reaching her I grab her and she starts screaming. "Calm down! It's just me" I tell her. She stops screaming. "You scared the fudge outta me stink brain!" she yells at me. "I'm sorry. Lets get you back to Sugar Rush now." Pulling her by the arm towards Sugar Rush I try glitching. It doesn't work and I end up sending us flying into the wall. "What the heck was that for?" "Sorry Sweet Pea. I tried glitching us towards Sugar Rush." "Why didn't it work?" she asks. "I don't know." Again pulling her towards Sugar Rush she glitches us there. Turning around the circle scans for anyone. The only person left in game central station is Dave. Vanellope starts pulling me into Sugar Rush. "Okay were here. Lets go." She says

"What? No. I was bringing you to Sugar Rush." I tell her.

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to deal with Dave or Turbo who ever he is."

She begins protesting but now the smoke has started clearing. I push her towards the game. Turning around the circle locks onto Davebo. He spots me standing there.

"You are a big pain squirt!" He yells

"You know, now that I think about it. I have heard of you before. Calhoun asked if I was going Turbo. From what I can remember going Turbo is bad." I say.

He sends another tentacle after me. Pulling out my sword, jumping to the side then cutting off his tentacle I grin. (Faster, stronger and still smarter.) I flip over him then pull out my wrist pistols. The bullets fly down and straight into him. His body suit starts falling apart. It doesn't take long for him to repair himself. By the time I'm back on the ground he's almost healed.

"No matter what you do I will win!" He yells.

"No you're going down old man!" I retort.

Jumping away from him I try and decide what weapon to use next. (Shoulder mini gun? That could work.) The moment I stop jumping the pistols go back into my wrists and the mini gun pops out of my shoulder. It begins unloading everything it has into Dave with little to no results.

He keeps walking forward taking the bullets like a champ. He extends his hands outward. Two pistols appear in a line of coding into his hands. He aims at me and begins firing. The mini gun stops firing when I dive behind a bench.

"Come on buddy! I just wanna talk." Dave says.

Shaking my head I pull out my wrist pistols again. Taking a deep breath I roll from behind the bench and fire back at him. The circle quickly locks on and the bullets begin hitting him. Running to the left as I fire his bullets are missing me. Barely. He generates some tentacles and gives them pistols as well.

"That's unfair dude!"

"Anything goes!" He yells back. I smile (Anything? Cool.) I run into a tunnel and enter Hero's duty


	19. Game jumping showdown

The train to Hero's duty begins pulling away, before I get to jump on. (Okay. No problem. I can fly.)

Jumping into the air, I activate my jet feet, propelling me through the tunnel rapidly.

The train halts to a stop at the end of the tunnel, sending me crashing through the back window.

"Come here you little glitch!" Turbo yells "I'm not a glitch!" I yell back. "You can't fool me! I saw you glitch!"

Rolling my eyes, I turn around to face him. I almost pee myself when he jumps into the window. He wraps a tentacle around my ankle, and starts pulling towards him.

"I got you now!" he says.

"No. I got you now!" I yell.

He tilts his head. Confused. While smirking I aim my left wrist at his face. Two circular tubes come out the top of my wrist. I smell the gas coming out of one of the tubes. The flame is large. The heat intense. Turbo screams out in pain. His tentacle releases it's grip on me. Jumping to my feet, I run into the game. The bay doors open, a couple cybugs begins flying over. Stopping dead in my tracks, I pull out my pistols, and lock on.

"Damn it! Who opened the doors?" Calhoun yells.

She spots me standing there. Pistols drawn ready to fire.

"Private! Get those bugs!" She yells at me.

I start firing, but a tentacle wraps around my leg and yanks me into the air. While firing one pistol at the cybugs I aim at Turbo as well. Firing at both parties.

"Hey Sarge? I could use some help!" I yell.

Calhoun aims at the cybugs, but she doesn't fire.

"Get out of there kid!" She yells Grabbing the tentacle, I aim my body towards the tower, then activate my jet feet, pulling Turbo with me into the air.

While flying through the air, Turbo starts shortening his tentacle, reeling himself towards me. It doesn't take long for us to reach the tower. We smash through the top window, landing in the medal room. His tentacle releases me, as he lands on his feet. "Oh! Thank you. I've always wanted to come back here" He says picking up one of the eggs.

The circle locks onto him, it turns into a triangle. The shoulder cylinder gun pops out, and fires at him. He doesn't have time to react. It gets a direct hit to his chest, sending him out the window, making him drop the egg.

"This thing is so cool." I say to myself.

Running to the window I reload my pistols. Looking over the edge, a tentacle wraps around my neck, and pulls me down. Turbo was hanging onto the edge. I don't fall far, before the tentacle stops me from falling, and begins choking me.

Losing air quickly. The tentacle tightens, my vision becomes blurry.

"Even with all your upgrades, you are nothing!" Turbo yells.

My glitching doesn't work. The only thing that happens, is my coding rippling a bit. (I can't quit now. I cant lose. I wont lose.) Activating my jet feet, I point my feet up, and propel us down. Turbo lets go of me, then straightens himself out.

We rapidly fall to the ground. The cybugs swarming the air gives me an idea. I deactivate my flying feet. Just as a cybug flies under me, I grab one of its legs, and let it pull me away from Turbo.

Turning around, I decide to try out the heat seeking missiles. The circle locks onto a cybug near Turbo.

"No. The other guy." I tell the circle.

It locks onto a different cybug, then another. It locks onto everything but Turbo.

"God damn it! Just lock onto everything!" I yell.

Triangles begin popping up everywhere. Locking onto anything that moves. A couple small missiles pop out of my arms, and begin firing everywhere. Explosions kill a lot of the cybugs. Thanks to all the smoke, I lose sight of Turbo.

The cybug I'm riding spins around, making me fall off. I activate my jet feet, and head for the ground. A couple cybugs managed to survive all the missiles, they begin attacking me. Pulling out my sword, slashing them, they back off a bit. Looking down, I see Turbo killing some soldiers. (How the hell is he still standing?) He kills a few soldiers, as he walks toward the exit I can see him limping.

When I land on the ground the soldiers re-spawn. "Private! Are you injured?" Calhoun asks me. "No. I'm fine." I tell her "So go get that guy!" She orders I nod, then run after him. He's already left the game, by the time I get to the train. Jumping, activating my flying boots, I fly to game central station. Turbo is waiting, arms crossed, at the end of the tunnel. Speeding up at him, he doesn't move. He waits for me to hit him. So I do. Wrapping my arms around his waist, he wraps tentacles around me. We zoom around game central station, hitting walls, knocking over benches. We bounce off one wall, and fly into a tunnel. My eyes shoot open when the familiar scent enters my nose. The scent of candy. (No. Any game, but not Sugar Rush.) Dread fills me when the annoyingly catchy song comes into hearing range.

"S-U-G-A-R. Jump into your racing car. I say, Sugar Rush! Sugar Rush"

(Crap. It is too)

I try turning, me, and Turbo around, but to no avail. Instead, he spins us around, and lets go, launching me into the game.

Thanks to my jet feet, my speed is doubled. Deactivating them doesn't help. Before I know it, I'm crashing into the ground, well. I though it was the ground. Looking down, I see Rancis out cold on the ground.

"Oh crap." Turning him over, I try waking him up.

"Come on buddy! Wake up!" I yell.

He doesn't wake up, so I pick him up, and run for the castle.

"Wrong place at the wrong time, Rancis." I say.

Reaching the castle a loud crash is heard behind us.

"Get over here!" Turbo yells.

"No! How about you get over here!" I yell back.

(No. I don't want him over here.)

"No. Never mind, just stay over there!" I yell.

Opening the castle doors, I throw Rancis in, then turn to face turbo. Apparently Turbo was already right behind me. Turbo grabs me, lifts me up, and throws me towards the speedway.

"Today you will die!" Turbo screams.

"Go ahead. Kill me. I'll just respawn." I retort.

Turbo wraps a tentacle around me, then pulls me towards the exit.

"You are correct, but who said I was going to kill you here?" I begin panicking.

His tentacle continues wrapping around my body. It doesn't take long, for him to encase my body in the red goo. And before I know it, I'm trapped in complete darkness.

(Where is he taking me? Game central station, probably going to try and execute me publicly. Yeah try. Not going to happen though.)

Turbo tightens the red goo around me.

"Go away Wreck-it! This doesn't concern you!" Turbo yells.

"Well if that's Josh in there, then this does concern me." Ralph says.

"Well this isn't Josh. He said so himself, several times in fact." I fell myself get lifted into the air, then hit the ground, and again and again.

(I guess hes swinging me at Ralph.) The red goo tightens around me, then I'm yanked to the side.

A couple seconds pass, the red goo "bag" is ripped open. Ralph grabs me, and pulls me out.

"Hey kid! Are you okay?" He asks.

"Yeah. I'm fine." I tell him.

"Good. I'm here to help you."

"What? No, what if you die? Your game would get unplugged" I say, jumping out of his hands.

Before he answers I get pulled back by a tentacle, by the neck. Ralph grabs my leg, but this just chokes me more. "Let go!" I say, while running out of breath. He hesitates, before releasing his grip.

Flying back, straight towards Turbo, I activate my jets, and ram into his stomach. Me and Turbo slam into the wall. He grunts, as he slides slowly down the wall. Taking this opportunity, I jump up to my feet, take a couple steps away and lock onto him.

Pulling out every single weapon, I have, and aiming it at him, was probably my best idea. Waiting for him to wake up, was not.

"What are you waiting for? Shoot him!" Ralph orders.

Shaking my head, I cock one of my pistols.

"No. I want him to be awake for this." I tell Ralph. As soon as I see him twitch, I begin unloading everything. Explosions, smoke, flames, and the sound of gun fire, fill the air. It takes a while, but eventually, I run out of ammo, for everything.

"I think, you got him." Ralph says, walking up next to me.

"I'm not convinced, not until I see a body."

My vision changes, to the blue hue, so I can see through the smoke. His body lays against the wall, motionless. Dead? I don't know. Walking up in front of his body, I kneel down.

"Are you dead?" I ask, poking his face.

He lifts his head, and wraps his tentacles around me. Pulling me in towards him, the mask peels back.

The red goo begins tearing its self from Turbo's body, and begins attaching to me.

Jumping back, Ralph catches me. He starts pulling the goo off me.

"Get off of him!" Ralph yells, pulling the goo furiously.

"This isn't going to work! But I know what will." I tell him. He ignores me, still pulling at the goo, that continues wrapping around me. Shaking my head, I roll out of Ralph's hands. "You can't regenerate, if there's nothing left." I saypulling my sleeve up. Under my sleeve, is a small screen, displaying all my stats. What condition I'm in, how well I'm running, power level. Things like that. Pressing a few buttons, a list pops up. "Okay. P.O.W." The red goo has almost encased me at this point. Pressing the P.O.W option, Brad's voice comes out of my wrist.

"Alright kid if you are hearing this, you have pressed the prisoner of war option. Good luck. Your nuclear reactor will meltdown. I recommend getting anyone in the immediate area to evacuate." Ralph picks me up, and tries tearing the goo off again. Pushing him away, and landing on the ground, I can feel my energy draining. Falling to the ground, my vision becomes blurry again. (Dave has no idea what's going to happen, and to be honest, neither do I. All I do know is, boom. Hopefully it's enough to stop him.) Ralph picks me up, and runs towards Sugar Rush. I can't move, so I can't stop him. "Meltdown in 10,9,8,7,6,5" Ralph is already half way through the tunnel. "4,3,2,1" Is the last thing I hear, before everything goes black.


	20. Josh Butterscotch vs the Afterlife

Ralph coughs, as he wakes up. Sitting up, he notices the large crater in front of him.

"Hey! Kid are you okay?" He yells, into the crater.

Looking down, he notices Josh isn't in there. Dread fills him instantly. He jumps into the crater, and starts moving rubble out of the way.

"Ralph! Josh? Where are you guys?" Vanellope yells.

Ralph pops his head out of the crater. He notices he's still in the tunnel, just outside of Sugar Rush. He goes back to moving rubble.

"Ralph?"

Ralph looks up, at Vanellope, who is now, standing at the edge of the crater.

"Where's Josh?" She asks.

Ralph shakes his head, and goes back to moving the rubble. Vanellope glitches down, and clutches to Ralph's overalls.

"Ralph. Where is Josh?" She asks again.

He wraps his arms around her, and squeezes.

"I'm sorry." He says quietly.

Vanellope bites her lip, and hugs him back.

"Is he...?" She stammers.

Ralph rubs the back of her head, not giving her an answer.

Tears begin rolling down her cheeks. She buries her head in his chest.

* * *

**_-Game central station-_**

In Game central, characters from all the games gather around the tunnel to Sugar Rush. They whisper amongst each other, wondering what the loud explosion was.

Felix hops to the front of the crowd, with Calhoun not too far behind. After a couple of minutes, Ralph walks slowly out of the tunnel, with Vanellope in his arms.

Everyone begins clapping, and cheering. Everyone except Felix, and Calhoun.

Felix walks over to his friends.

"Oh my land. Are you okay Ralph?" He asks, looking over Ralph's scorched body.

Ralph gives him a small nod.

"What the hell happened? And where's private?" Calhoun asks, walking over as well.

Vanellope begins sobbing. Ralph soothes her again. Calhoun crosses her arms, and frowns.

"What happened?" Calhoun asks again.

"I... I couldn't help him." Ralph tells her.

Calhoun turns around, and kicks a garbage can, sending it flying.

"God damn it!" She yells, before storming away.

Calhoun's yelling silences everyone.

The cheering stops, along with the clapping. The entire station goes silent.

The Sugar Rush racers run out of the tunnel. Candlehead supporting Rancis, as he limps out.

643 pushes some some characters out of the way, and makes it the front.

"You're kidding right? He's Josh. He wouldn't let some 8 bit freak finish him." 643 says, walking up to the others.

Ralph shakes his head, again.

"It didn't go down like that kid." Ralph tells him.

"How did it go down? Don't tell me that Dave asshole killed him." 643 says sitting on the ground.

"No. He didn't." Ralph says.

643 pulls his legs up, and puts his head down.

"What happened? Whats with the giant crater?" Taffyta asks.

No one answers, and just remains silent

"Where's Josh?" Candlehead asks.

"Gone." Vanellope says quietley.

* * *

**_-Sugar Rush-_**

Anyone that fit in the castle, came inside. 643, and Felix opened windows, for those who couldn't fit inside. No one could sit down. Standing room only. All the characters stood in silence, good or bad, shoulder to shoulder. To some surprise even, Chell, and some of the guys from Team fortress, showed up.

"Should we start now?" Ralph asks Vanellope.

She nods, so Ralph walks up to the front of the throne room. He loosens the tie around his neck, before coughing, getting everyone's attention.

"Uhh. Hello. I'm Ralph. I would like to thank you all for coming today. I know Josh would love to know, how many people showed up."

Ralph looks around the room.

"Anyways. Welcome..." Ralph trails off.

"we know why were all here. For Josh. Because he helped you, in some way, or you crossed paths with him. For what ever the reason, we know it's for Josh. So.. were going to start. Ralph says, before he walks away from the front."

Stephen sits in silence, while Vanellope pets him.

The first to walk to the front is 643.

"Hey. My name is 643. I knew Josh for ten years. He was a great... well he was a guy." 643 says jokingly.

Some laughter is heard, before he continues.

"At first, I was iffy on being friends with the guy, and being friends with his friends." 643 says, gesturing to Ralph, and the others.

"But, I'm glad, I did." 643 says, before he walks off the stage.

The next to walk up is Felix.

"Uh. Howdy there. I'm Fix-it Felix jr, and I'm from Fix-it Felix jr. I only knew Josh, for a few months, but that was more than enough time to become friends with him." Felix begins choking up, and he has to be carried off by Calhoun.

Vanellope is asked to say a few words, but she declines.

"I can't" She says, still petting Stephen.

Ralph knees down next to her, then picks her up.

"Why not?" He asks.

She shakes her head, then jumps out of his hands.

Vanellope runs to her room, enters, and goes over to the dresser. She opens it and pulls out Josh's goggles. Placing them on her head, she smiles weakly. It doesn't take long for Ralph to make it to her room. He enters and sees Vanellope sitting on her bed, goggles on her head, legs crossed.

"Are those Josh's goggles?" He asks.

Vanlellope nods, and fiddles with them.

Theres a knock on the door, Vanellope and Ralph look at the door.

643 peeks his head inside the door.

Ralph stands up, and claps his hands together

"Okay. I'll see you back in the throne room" He says, before leaving.

"Everyone's wating for you squirt." 643 says, to Vanellope

She pulls the goggles down around her neck, jumps off the bed, and follows 643 down the hall.

"So you were there? with him for ten years?" She asks him.

643 nods.

"Yep. I mean he didn't know, but I was there. Watching."

"That's kinda creepy. Watching, I mean." Vanellope says.

643 chuckles.

"Well. If you put it that way, then yes it was creepy." He says.

643 stops, just outside the door, to the throne room.

"Are you going to be okay?" He asks her, as he kneels down.

She looks at the door, then back at him, before nodding.

"As I'll ever be" She says, with a weak smile.

643 chuckles again, as he ruffles her hair. He stands up, and opens the door for Vanellope.

They enter the throne room. Everyone looks towards the door, they watch as 643, and Vanellope enter.

Vanellope walks to the front of the room.

"Hello. I... I'm Vanellope Von Schw...Butterscotch. I am Vanellope Von Butterscotch." Vanellope says loudly.

Everyone looks at her.

"I would like to thank everyone for coming. It means a lot to me. Knowing how many friends Josh had, good, and bad. arcade, and online."

Stephen flies over to Vanellope, and lands next to her. She places a hand on his head.

"Any who. Thank you for coming. Enjoy yourselfs." She says, before walking towards Ralph.

The characters start whispering again.

Vanellope jumps up, into Ralph's hands.

"I miss him, but I'm happy he was here." She says.

"I think theres a word for that." Ralph tells her.

"What is it?"

"Saudade" He says quietley.

"What does it mean?"

"You'll have to look it up, on the internet."

"I've had enough of the internet for a lifetime." Vanellope says.

* * *

**_-Tappers-_**

Tappers was packed, with Characters from all over the arcade.

Vanellope, Ralph, Felix, 643, and Calhoun sit around a table, near the center of the bar

Vanellope reaches for a mug, 643 pulls it away from her.

"No you don't. I already trusted one kid with that. Big mistake." 643 says, before chugging the mug.

Vanellope crosses her arms, and begins pouting.

"You guys didn't treat Josh like a kid." She says, still pouting.

"Because Josh did't pout, whenever he didn't get what he wanted." Ralph says.

So Ralph and the others drank through the night, knowing they had the whole next day, to get over any sort of hangover they got, while Vanellope watched, sneaking drinks here and there.

And so it was, Josh Butterscotch ventured forth from the internet. Intent on discovering the fate of his friends. The internet proved a cruel, inhospitable place. But Josh refused to surrender to the vices that had claimed so many others. The values passed on from friends, to Josh, selflessness, compassion, honor. But it was not until the end of this long road, that Josh learned the true meaning of that greatest a virtues. Sacrifice. Blowing himself up, to stop Dave, and save the arcade.

**_-FIN-_**


End file.
